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Two Old Letters 


BY 


J. S. THOMAS. 


A TRUE NARRATIVE THAT READS LIKE 
FICTION. 


SECOND EDITION. 



PARSONS, KANSAS: 

THE FOLEY RAILWAY PRINTING COMPANY 
1905 . 




LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

'JAN 29 1906 

f) Copyright Entry 

3o } /<f06 
CLASS Ct XXc. No. 

/ 3 7 $ g 3 

COPY B. 


iV 






Copyrighted, 1906, 
by 

J . S. Thomas. 


s* 

\JP 

■» <v 



PREFACE. 


The following pages would have never been 
written had it not been for the almost mirac- 
ulous manner in which the facts fell into the 
writer’s hands. 

Twenty-five years ago some of the leading 
points were incorporated in some magazine 
articles, and four years ago (1899) the writer 
found the remaining information while in 
New Orleans. 

Most of the people referred to are living 
yet and will gladly testify to the facts with 
which they were connected. Some have 
passed away. 

The writer claims no credit for what may 
have merit and should not be blamed for the 
weak points in the book. It merely contains 
what the experiences of those mentioned 
furnished. 


New Orleans, La., Feb. 2, 1902. 
Elder J. S. Thomas. 

Dear Sir: — It is true that father and 
mother have gone to their rewards, but know- 


ing his aversion to undue notoriety, I prefer 
not to have their real names mentioned in your 
book. Thanking you for your mentions of 
them, I am yours, etc. 

Geo. R. B. 

Corpus Christi, Tex., Feb. 26, 1900. 
Rev. J. S. Thomas, Searcy, Ark. 

Dear Brother: — Your favor of the 16th 
inst. at hand, contents noted. In reply will 
say I have not the least objection to you using 
my name in connection with Jimmy Malone’s 
statement relative to the gift of the Testament 
over thirty years since. It had quite passed 
out of my mind. I am over rejoiced, to learn 
that good for the Master and a poor sailor boy, 
grew out of it. “Cast thy bread upon the 
waters.” It has already been returned ten-fold 
by the news your letter brings me. The 
Schooner’s name was Martha M. Heath. I was 
much pleased to hear from you. My wife sends 
regards, and rest assured that you will always 
have my best wishes and prayers for you and 
the cause in which you are engaged. Hoping 
this will find you in as good health as it leaves 
mp. I remain, fraternally yours, 


C. C. Heath. 


INDEX 


CHAPTER I. 

School Days Ended 9 

CHAPTER II. 

The Parting 13 

CHAPTER III. 

Frank Gholston, A Prisoner of War 19 

CHAPTER IV. 

In a New Horae._ 27 

CHAPTER V. 

George Carter Nursed by Jimmie 35 

CHAPTER VI. 

George Questions the “Parson” 43 

CHAPTER VII. 

Jimmie is Nursed by Hattie ~ 51 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Jimmie’s Death ,. 67 

CHAPTER IX. 

George Wakes Up — Comes to Himself 81 

CHAPTER X. 

Hattie Investigates 89 

CHAPTER XI. 

Hattie Continues Her Investigation 99 

CHAPTER XII. 

George Starts Home 117 

CHAPTER XIII. 

George Arrives at Home 129 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Pastor Calls 137 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE TWO OLD LETTERS . ...151 

CHAPTER XVI. 

George Goes South 163 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Hattie Finds the Letters 173 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Doctrinal Questions 183 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Frank and George Meet - 201 

CHAPTER XX. 

George Goes to Church 213 

CHAPTER XXI. 

George Hears of Jimmie’s Death . 231 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Wedding 245 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

They Join the Church 1 .253 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Preacher’s Visit 281 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Finale ;. . 295 

ILLUSTRATIONS 


THREE OTHER GRADUATES 16 

UNCLE JIMMIE 32 

LAST NIGHT AT THE OLD HOME 48 

REV. R. G. SEYMOUR, D. D 80 

TITLE PAGE WESLEY’S TESTAMENT 96 

THIRD CHAPTER OF MATTHEW FROM 

WESLEY’S TESTAMENT 160 

“THIS BOOK FELL FROM HIS POCKET” ......176 


CHAPTER I. 


June 10, 1861, found Hattie Gholston and 
George Carter in college together for the last 
time. 

On that day they graduated, finishing four 
years of incessant toil with a feeling of pleasure, 
known only to those who have listened to that 
personal little speech that always accompanies 
the presentation of a diploma to one who has 
commanded the respect of all connected with 
the institution. 

The old adage, “Every rose has its thorn,” 
proved more than true in this instance, for 
they dreaded the parting moment which soon 
followed. They entered college together, studied 
in the same class and graduated at the same 


10 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


time, but the secret of their pain at parting 
grew out of the fact that their minds were made 
up on the subject of matrimony. 

George lived in Pennsylvania and Hattie in , 
Mississippi and to those places they must soon 
return. When they thought of the great dis- 
tance that would soon spread itself between 
them, and the many contingencies upon which 
their future meeting depended they were loth 
to separate; for they were one in heart and mind. 
That mystic tie, so powerful through all ages 
since Adam first uttered the word “woman” 
had bound their souls together, like two spark- 
ling dewdrops blended in one by a touch of the 
waving grass as it bows to the breath of the 
morning. 

When the audience was dismissed Hattie 
and George sat motionless and speechless, as 
in a dream until a fellow student tapped George 
on the shoulder saying: “George, old man, 
wake up! What’s the matter with you?” The 
diploma which had been the direct object of 
four years of toil, had fallen from Hattie’s hands 
to the floor and when she awoke from her 

reverie she saw Prof. W standing on the 

blue ribbon and seemingly grinding it into the 
floor on purpose. She waited in silence till the 
Professor moved his foot and then quietly 
picked it up without attracting the attention of 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


11 


any one, but saying to herself as she brushed 
away the dirt: “I wonder if it will always be 
that we lose interest in things as soon as we 
come into possession of them?” An old man 
standing by overheard the words which were 
intended only for her own heart and said: 
“No, child, you have it wrong. You have lost 
no interest in the diploma. It is only a case 
where the larger concerns of life overshadow 
the smaller ones. Your preparation for life 
(to which this diploma bears witness) is of para- 
mount import, but you have now reached the 
point where you can begin to realize that life 
itself is infinitely more important.” Hattie, 
alarmed that she should have spoken so as to 
be heard, turned and listened attentively and 
then replied: “It must be so; for when I en- 
tered college I thought of nothing but this 
paper (brushing the dirt from it,) but today it 
seems to be a thing of the past, and as I look, 
out into the fathomless depths of the great dark 
future I find myself staggering under the weight 
of responsibility this very document places 
on me.” “I’m glad, child, you see more in an 
education than merely getting a diploma.” 


12 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Who is on the Lord’s side, 
Always true? 

There’s a right and wrong side, 
Where stand you? 

Thousands on the wrong side 
Choose to stand, 

Still ’its not the strong side, 

True and grand. 

Come and join the Lord’s side: 

Ask you why? — 

’Tis the only safe side 
By and by. 


CHAPTER II. 


The exercises of the day over and all college 
work done with, George and Hattie agreed to 
attend church in the evening and hear Dr. — — 
deliver his wonderful lecture on “Society.” 
They separated and walked to their respective 
places with that aimless sort of step that be- 
tokens a feeling that eludes definition. I shall 
not attempt to describe that feeling. Those who 
have experienced it need no description, and 
those who have not can never faintly form an 
idea of the height and depth of that boisterous 
emotion which possesses the soul on occasions 
like this. Neither of them knew how the hours 
of the afternoon wore away; for they could 


14 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


forsee that the separation, which must come in 
a short time might part them forever owing to 
the war cloud that was then darkening the poli- 
tical horizon and the muttering thunder of 
civil strife between the states on the subject of 
slavery. 

Late in the afternoon, Hattie, refreshed by 
rest and recreation, began to make prepara- 
tions for the lecture, for she expected George 
at an early hour in the evening and she meant 
to be ready so she could get off to the lecture 
without the confusion that one experiences 
when compelled to arrange the toilet in haste, 
and that puts a lady at such fearful disadvantage 
in the social circle just at the time when she 
needs most to be self-possessed. Dressed and 
seated at the parlor window, she gave way to 
meditation. She was not thinking of the diploma 
which Rev. Mr. — — had presented to her 
accompanied by a flattering little speech in the 
presence of a delighted audience. Her mind 
was otherwise occupied. Every feeling of her 
agitated soul was delineated in her lovely face. 
The intensity of her love, which she did not like 
to acknowledge to herself, made itself known 
in her blushing countenance as she grew crimson 
at her own thoughts and feelings. 

In due time George put in his appearance, 
and as he passed the window her blue eyes 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


15 


(as she raised them from a book) and golden 
hair and glowing countenance set ablaze his 
very soul with indescribable emotion to which 
he had been a stranger till that moment. The 
fresh spring flowers which the hand of nature 
had silently hung in luxuriant abundance 
about the window seemed to be emulating 
her beauty and George was compelled to stop 
and compose himself before entering the room. 
The thought that filled Hattie’s mind and the 
love that filled her heart could only find expres- 
sion in those tender sentiments disclosed at the 
parting of Romeo and Juliet. And the doubt, 
as to future meeting that beclouded poor Juliet’s 
mind hung itself in thick folds over the pathway 
of the fair graduate from Mississippi. Up to 
that meeting Hattie had felt an ease of manner 
and freedom of speech, growing out of the fact 
that she was a “ school girl,” which seemed to 
desert her completely now that she was an 
educated lady supposed to speak and act wholly 
on her own responsibility. George felt the same 
way and they were strangely awkward in each 
others society. But in a few moments they 
were walking slowly towards the church talking 
over their college experiences, each trying to 
recover the ease of manner and speech that 
belonged to those happy days, but each thinking 
more of the uncertain future which must deter- 


16 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


mine all their plans. With them the lecture 
though a masterly effort, “cut very little figure,” 
as George put it, and need not be mentioned 
here. Miss Hattie was to start home on the 
2 a. m. train and of course, felt a thousand 
interests crowding into the few hours that inter- 
vened. And to further disconcert her, the presi- 
dent of the institution suggested the following 
lines to be sung at the close of the service: 

“When shall we all meet again? 

When shall we all meet again? 

Oft shall glowing hope expire, 

Oft shall wearied love retire, 

Oft shall death and sorrow reign 
E’er we all shall meet again. 

Though in distant lands we sigh, 

Parched beneath a hostile sky; 

Though the deep between us rolls, 

Friendship shall unite our souls, 

Still in fancy’s rich domain 
Oft shall we all meet again. 

When the dreams of life are fled, 

When its wasted lamps are dead; 

When in cold oblivion’s shade, 

Beauty, power and fame are laid, 

Where immortal spirits reign, 

There shall we all meet again.” 

They sang these lines to an old tune written 
in the minor scale throughout; as if to blend 



THREE OTHER GRADUATES. 




TWO OLD LETTERS 


17 


on purpose, the sentiment and tones with two 
hearts already tuned to the minor chords by 
the unseen hand of sorrow. They returned 
home almost in silence, for the dreaded moment 
of separation was just before them, and as they 
approached it the gloom of the grave seemed 
to gather around them. They lingered awhile 
on the portico before the “last good bye.” All 
nature seemed to sympathize with the sad 
character of this separation — one to the far 
South and the other to the North and a future 
meeting was dreadfully uncertain. 

The full moon had risen high in the heavens, 
pouring down her soft light making visible the 
sparkling dew drops which hung on the leaves 
and flowers as if the angels had been weeping 
over the sad experiences they were undergoing. 
The unseen fingers of the wind gently touched 
every movable thing into motion, shaking the 
dew from the rose, snowball, and old-fashioned 
lilacs, waving more vigorously the tall poplars 
which stood in the lane, while the stronger 
blast roared among the pine trees of the forest. 

Since that last song every sound seemed 
uttered in minors. The frogs croaked in minors, 
the insects trilled and the nighthawk gave his 
lonesome screech in minors, while the wind 
among the pine tops gave back a wail of sadness 
that would make the “heart of terror quake.” 

(2) 


18 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Solemn moment! Words were useless. George 
took the gold medal which he had received 
for the best oration and pinned it on Hattie’s 
scarf, reminded her of the day appointed for 
their next meeting and left her without 
further ceremony. She spent the remaining 
three hours (till 2 a. m.) arranging for the long 
journey to Mississippi. 



CHAPTER III. 


George and Hattie returned to their respec- 
tive homes, Pennsylvania and Mississippi, and 
as time moved on, constantly unrolling the 
great parchment of human events, they began 
to read from its bloody surface the current 
happenings of the civil war of 1861 — 1865, 
in which American manhood, valor and honor 
exhibited themselves on both sides in such a way 
as to lead the nation into loud expressions of 
enthusiastic pride over its citizenship, while 
the powers of earth looked on in utter astonish- 
ment. The effect this great political commotion 
would have on their engagement and plans for 
the future, was a question not easily solved; 
and with their best efforts to imagine the result, 


20 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


t 

they could only see a black cloud settling down 
on their lives shutting out all hope. Hattie 
did not accept for a moment the friendly (?) 
admonition of Caroline Norton, but for the life 
of her could not keep from repeating her words: 

“Love not, love not ye helpless sons of clay! 

Hope’s gayest wreaths are made of earthly flowers ; 

Things that are made to fade and fall away 
Ere they have blossomed for a few short hours. 

Love not! 

They continued their correspondence until 
the unsettled condition of the country cut off 
all possible means of communication. Hattie’s 
last letter gave evidence of a trembling hand 
and a heavy heart: 


Madison, Aug. 20, 1862. 

Dear George : — I am here on a visit to friends, 
but my pleasure is wholly destroyed, yea my 
very soul is filled with grief, as I see the active 
preparations for what now seems must be a 
bloody war. Drums are beating and recruiting 
officers are making flaming speeches to secure 
men for the army. I presume the same is going 
on in your state and I see you, dear George, 
with my mind’s eye standing in the ranks of 
your country’s army where your natural dis- 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


21 


position and geographical position place you. 
My younger brother volunteered just before 
I left home and, oh horrors! I reached here in 
time to see my older one kiss his wife and children 
good bye and walk off, it seems to me “as a 
sheep to the slaughter.” When the clouds are 
gone may we meet. Till then or till death, 
I am yours, 

Hattie. 

The war opened with a furious onslaught 
known only to the valor of the Caucasian 
race. Think of thirteen thousand men falling, 
dead or wounded, in less than one hour and 
you will get a faint conception of that war. 
In the battle of Stone River, Hattie’s younger 
brother, while making a gallant charge, was 
severely wounded and taken by the enemy. 
He was placed in care of Captain Carter’s 
company for safe keeping, and being an officer 
soon attracted the attention of the captain 
so that in a few moments Captain George Carter, 
Hattie’s lover, was face to face with Frank 
Gholston, her brother, but of course unknown 
to each other. George’s eye had scarcely fallen 
on the prisoner when he beheld with great sur- 
prise and indignation the medal he pinned on 
Hattie’s scarf the night they separated, now on 
the bosom of hisjcaptive. He was ordinarily 
cool and deliberate in all things, but now 


22 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


thoroughly enraged only one thought possessed 
him. He thought Hattie had proved unfaithful 
and had given the medal he prized so highly 
to the confederate officer who now stood before 
him a prisoner. His brain was in a mad whirl 
and for the moment he forgot all about his 
obligation to a prisoner and rushed forward to 
take the medal from his bosom and strike him 
down with his sword. He bethought himself 
however, and said to himself: ‘‘The medal is 
mine, and I'll take it, but Fll never be guilty 
of striking one who is in my power — no never.” 
So saying, he took the medal, and Frank, think- 
ing he did it for its value, drew a costly watch 
from his pocket saying: “Please, sir, take that 
and leave me the medal for my dear sister’s 
sake, to whom it properly belongs.” 

Captain Carter understood in a moment 
that there was a satisfactory explanation in 
it and asked with an air of indifference: “What 
has your sister to do with that medal?” “Sim- 
ply this: She had a gold medal which she in- 
tended to give me the day I left home, but in 
the midst of her tears she made a mistake and 
pinned this one on my bosom. She has written 
many times about it and I promised to return 
it the first opportunity. It is a present from, 
or rather belongs to a very dear friend of hers, 
and if you will let me keep it and return it to 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


23 


her I will give you my gold watch.” By this 
time George was almost literally paralyzed, and 
stood motionless while Frank took the medal 
from his hand and was pushing the watch into 
his possession in place of it. Upon recovering 
a little he said to Frank: “Oh! I don’t want 
your watch and could not think for one moment 
of taking it. I was simply laboring under a little 
mistake about that medal, that’s all. At this 
moment his imagination took memories wing 
and swept back to that solemn hour when Hattie 
and he had so reluctantly parted. His heart 
rose convulsively into his throat, his eyes filled 
with tears as a fresh image of the sparkling 
dew drops hanging upon the leaves and bathing 
the lovely flowers, recurred to his mind. He 
seemed for a moment to feel the gentle breeze 
on his brow that waved the slender branches 
of the tall poplars on that sad yet beautiful 
night, and to hear the roaring blast in the pine 
forest that filled his soul on that memorable 
occasion with a sadness and loneliness more 
dreaded than the battle now raging around him. 
He felt so much of the real spirit of that last 
hour on the portico gathering within him that 
he was compelled to go aside to master his 
emotions. Returning to the prisoner, he found 
him prostrate on the ground from the loss of 
blood and begging for water with an earnestness 


24 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


known only to those who have heard the plead- 
ing of a dying man on a battle field. Words 
will never describe it. George’s great heart 
was moved and he wept like a child, for he knew 
that a picture of that occasion would break 
the heart of the girl he loved. He raised Frank 
from the cold ground, beckoned a soldier to 
give him water from his canteen, and when he 
was placed on a stretcher to be carried to the 
hospital he put twenty dollars in “green-back” 
in his hand to take the place of the useless 
confederate money in his pocket. As two 
strong men took hold of the stretcher to carry 
the confederate captain away, he turned his 
pale face to George and said: “Your conduct 
has been so strange, it makes me anxious to 
know your name.” Frank resembled his sister, 
Hattie, very much at all times and now that he 
‘was pale from loss of blood and subdued by pain, 
he was the very picture of her, and when George 
looked him full in the face, in response to this 
request, he became choked by his emotion and 
turned away without a word leaving Frank 
more puzzled than ever about who his new 
friend could be. 

It is strange how a man may be alternately 
a baby, so to speak, and a lion in the same 
breath; for George had hardly wiped the sym- 
pathetic tears from his eyes before leading his 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


25 


company in a bloody charge known among the 
old soldiers who were there as the “ peach- 
orchard charge/’ and he did it like a man who 
had no tears or fears. 


With joy we meditate the grace 
Of our High Priest above; 

His heart is made of tenderness, 

His bosom glows with love. 

Touched with a sympathy within, 

He knows our feeble frame; 

He knows what sore temptations mean 
For he hath felt the same. 

He, in the days of feeble flesh, 

Poured out his cries and tears; 

And in full measure feels afresh 
What every member bears. 

Then let our humble faith address 
His mercy and his power; 

We shall obtain delivering grace 
In the distressing hour. 

— Isaac Watts. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


The Bible 

Study it carefully, 

Think of it prayerfully, 

Deep in thy heart let its pure precepts dwell 
Slight not its history, 

Ponder its mystery, 

None can e’er prize it too fondly or well. 

Accept the glad tidings, 

The warnings and chidings, 

Found in this volume of heavenly lore ; 
With faith that’s unfailing 
And love all-prevailing, 

Trust in its promise of life evermore. 

With fervent devotion, 

And thankful emotion, 

Hear the blest welcome, respond to its call ; 
Life’s purest oblation, 

The heart’s adoration, 

Give to the Savior, who died for us all. 

May this message of love 
From the Tribune above, 

To all nations and kindreds be given, 

Till the ransomed shall raise 
Joyous anthems of praise — 
Hallelujah! on earth and in heaven. 

— Selected. 


CHAPTER IV. 


Capt. Frank Gholston lingered in the hospital 
three months before he recovered sufficiently 
to get out of his ward and during all that time 
his mother and sister had not heard from him 
and began to think he was dead and to mourn 
for him as such. After a little more than three 
months the long-prayed-for letter came, and 
the hand-writing on the envelope sent a thrill 
of joy to the hearts at home even before the 
contents of the little note were known. It was 
a short missive but through its well chosen 
words the groans of the dying sounded in 
Hattie’s ears and a picture of the dead appeared 


28 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


before the eye of her mind; but imagine if 
you can, her surprise when she read the follow- 
ing: 

“While the battle was raging beyond all 
description I received a wound in my side 
and fell into the hands of the enemy (perhaps 
I should say into the hands of a friend) but 
I found one who was more than a friend and 
I never have been able to explain his conduct. 
When I was first captured the person of whom 
I speak approached me. He was an officer, a 
captain, for they called him Captain George. 
He gazed at me for a moment with a look I shall 
never forget. He did not look to be a bad man, 
for in the midst of a roaring battle all around he 
was calm as a May morning; but all at once he 
became enraged and snatched the medal from 
my bosom that you had placed there by mistake. 
I instinctively felt for my revolver and would 
have murdered him for the insult but then I 
remembered that I was a prisoner, wounded 
and disarmed. To save the medal for your sake 
I bit my lips and assumed the attitude of a 
beggar, and pleaded for it in your name, at 
which the fellow really burst into tears, left 
the medal in my possession and walked away. 
He returned to me in a short time, ministered to 
my immediate wants, and put twenty dollars 
(greenback) into my hand and went away without 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


29 


a word of explanation. He was a manly fellow. 
His tall form, black eyes, dark hair and pleasant 
voice form a pleasing picture in memory’s 
art gallery and I often find myself gazing upon 
it while the ear of imagination is listening to 
the roar of that awful battle in which I fell — 
Stone River — and saw so many brave sons of 
the South go down to death. 

Hattie understood the entire situation long 
before she had finished reading and it was 
too much for the soul of any mortal. Under 
the conflicting emotions incident to such piece 
of real romance, or, rather facts stranger than 
fiction, she gave way and had no control of 
her feelings for several days so that her parents 
became alarmed for her safety. She could be 
heard repeating: 

“What must I do with all the days and hours 
That must be counted ere I see thy face? 

How shall I charm the interval that lowers 
Between this time and that sweet day of grace?” 

The great national tragedy moved on; the 
footprints of devastation were seen within the 
borders of Mississippi, and it seemed as if the 
god of night had heaped mountains of darkness 
on every Southern home, while the hand of ruin 
spread the mantle of poverty over the entire 
citizenship. Hattie saw her parents (thousands 


30 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


did the same) go to their table and eat an entire 
meal from a dish of stock peas cooked without 
salt or other seasoning. Their tears often 
mingled with the food as they ate in silence and 
sometimes they had no food and went to their 
rooms hungry to bathe their pillows with tears 
in silent grief. Two more years (it seemed 
twenty) of the war passed without a word from 
George and very few letters from her brothers, 
hence she despaired almost of consummating 
her engagement with the man whom she loved 
and yet she held herself faithfully to that con- 
tract in spite of the dark future and many 
promising opportunities to do otherwise. She 
nursed a young officer (wounded at Shiloh) 
through months of weary waiting in their own 
home and when he recovered he began in earnest 
to urge his suit for her hand in matrimony. 
She admired his bravery; and weary watching 
and tender care for him had created some sort 
of feeling, not easily defined, but she would not 
be shaken from her obligation either in thought 
or feeling for one moment. “My part,” she 
said, “of such a sacred obligation must be 
fulfilled,” as she gave her reasons firmly for 
declining his hand and heart, for both were 
offered. 

At the close of the war, wreck was on every- 
thing. Frank Gholston came home broken in 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


31 


purse and health, and the family moved to 
Florida after disposing of the fragment of a 
ruined fortune. The “old squire,” as his neigh- 
bors called him, purchased a small farm near 

ville and Hattie accepted a position in the 

school at that place to aid her father in recover- 
ing their fortune while Frank hired a crew of 
negroes and made big money out of a levee 
contract. Things were coming rapidly to “the 
right,” as Frank said, except with poor Hattie 
and no one read the true situation in her pale, 
sad face. The war had ended but the struggle 
was not over in her heart. She wrote two 
letters, after waiting a long time to hear from 
George, and neither of them was returned nor 
secured a reply. Not being returned indicated 
that he had received them while no reply 
argued that he had given up the whole thing 
and she settled down to a life of sorrow and 
disappointment. An old negro woman was the 
only person on earth who understood the situ- 
ation, and Hattie thinks to this day she would 
have gone mad but for the prayers and words 
of encouragement given by that old “auntie.” 

Hattie did not believe in such foolishness, 
but, to while away time, she would turn a 
coffee cup over and then carry it to old Aunt 
’Cinda who, by looking at the stains on the 
inside, would tell all about her lover. Aunt 


32 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


'Cinda told much at different times but always 
ended up by saying: “Chile, Cod's gwine to 
bring dis here matter out all right. I sees dat 
in every cup.” 'Cinda said this with such con- 
fidence that, in spite of herself, Hattie got some 
sort of pleasure out of it and often said to 
herself: “After all it may be so." One day 
Hattie said: 

“Aunt 'Cinda, what do you see in that cup 
that makes you say I'll see George and all 
will be right?" “It's not what I sees, chile, 
dat makes me say it. It's what I feels. You 
knows dat night me and you prayed 'fore we 
left de old home in Mississippi when you felt 
so bad." 

“Yes; I never shall forget it." 

“Well, I's felt since dat it would end out all 
right; now Miss, you just watch what 'Cinda 
tells you. Its all right." 

Hattie walked away thinking upon that 
season of prayer and the experiences that 
led up to it. It all came up to her mind. It 
was the last night before they left the old 
home in Mississippi. Moving to another state 
diminished her almost last chance to get in 
correspondence with or see George, if any re- 
mained, and broke every social tie that could 
in anywise compensate for the sacrifices she 
had already made and the disappointments she 



UNCLE JIMMIE 




TWO OLD LETTERS 


33 


had endured, so that she was driven almost to 
insanity. Old Aunt 'Cinda had taken her in 
her arms and prayed for her, and she remem- 
bered yet how much better she felt. She caught 
herself saying: “It will come out all right, 
’C'inda says — feels.” And thus she faced the 
dark future without knowing how it would, or 
seeing how it could, come out all right. 

“Coming events cast their shadows before,” 
to ’Cinda’s eye but to Hattie all was darkness 
and gloom and her heart was heavy. 


How sad our state by nature is! 

Our sin — how deep it stains! 

And Satan holds our captive minds 
Fast in his slavish chains. 

But there’s a voice of sovereign grace, 
Sounds from the sacred word; 

“IIo! ye despairing sinners, come! 

And trust a pardoning Lord.” 

My soul obeys the almighty call, 

And runs to this relief ; 

I would believe thy promise, Lord; 

O, help my unbelief! 

A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, 

In thy kind arms I fall; 

Be thou my Strength and Righteousness, 
My Savior and my All. 

— Isaac Watts. 


( 3 ) 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


O Thou whom we adore! 

To bless our earth again, 

Assume thine own almighty power, 
And o’er the nations reign. 

The world’s desire and hope, 

All power to thee is given; 

Now set the last great empire up, 
Eternal Lord of Heaven! 

A gracious Saviour, thou 
Wilt all thy children bless; 

And every knee to thee shall bow, 
And every tongue confess. 

According to thy word 

Now be thy grace revealed, 

And with the knowledge of the Lord 
Let all the earth be filled. 

— Charles Wesley. 


chapter;v. 


At the close of the Civil War Captain George 
Carter was on duty in one of the cities on the 
southern coast — New Orleans. Lieutenant 
Ross, Major Saffin and he were all seated around 
a table in George’s tent talking over the inci- 
dents of the late struggle and discussing their 
own plans for the future, when George remarked : 

“Major, suppose we have an oyster treat. 
We may not have many more.” “All right.” 
said the Major. “I’m always ready to eat up 
something, you know.” A servant was sent 
for the oysters, crackers, etc., and the repast 
was soon ready which was relished in old army 
style while the three officers had much to say 


36 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


about what they should follow for a livelihood 
when let out of their “military job” as they 
called it. 

They had used the newspaper in which the 
crackers were wrapped for a table cloth and 
as they were finishing up “the feast,” George 
observed in large letters the word married 
standing at the head of a little notice in the 
paper which had served so well as a table cloth 
and remarked: 

“By jove! I’d like to know who’s fool 
enough to get married these times?” 

“Why, Captain, who’s married?” 

“I do not know. I just saw something of 
the kind on our clean table cloth,” (referring 
to the newspaper.) 

The Major then leaned over and read the 
notice, remarking as he finished: 

“The lady certainly is no fool though she may 
have acted foolishly in this. She is a graduate 
of College.” 

“Is that so? Possibly I know her. I gradu- 
ated from that institution myself. What is 
her name?” 

The Major, glancing back over the paper, 
said: 

“Let’s see, where was it? Oh, yes! Hattie 
Gholston was her name and the paper says she 
was cultivated and beautiful. Some poor 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


37 


fellow is in luck and ours will come some day,” 
said the Major. 

To attempt any description of George’s looks, 
and especially his feelings, would be worse than 
foolishness. The reader, therefore, is left to 
his own imagination to supply the deficiency 
in the narrative. If it had not been for the hope 
that it was a mistake somehow, he would have 
committed suicide right in his tent before the 
eyes of his companions. He put his hand on 
his revolver several times with that purpose 
in mind, while each time his faith in Hattie’s 
promise would struggle up to the throne of 
reason and re-establish the dominion of that 
ruling attribute. He had great sympathy for 
the suicide from that moment as the reader will 
see further on in this volume. He rudely tore 
away from his friends and hunted the city of 
New Orleans till he found a catalogue of the 
institution where she and he graduated in hope 
that more than one Hattie Gholston had been 
educated at that place, but alas! the remaining 
fragments of his shattered hopes were dashed 
into the depths of unrelenting sorrow; and when 
left to drink from the bitter cup of grief alone 
he made that fatal resolve that has plunged 
untold thousands into irreparable ruin and 
disgrace. He felt like his father, mother and 
friends could read from his face the entire history 


38 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


of his disappointment. He concluded not to 
return home till he had mastered his sorrows 
though he expected a discharge soon, and in 
order to do this speedily, he decided to baptize 
them in the wine cup.. His first attempt at this 
should have deterred him from further progress 
in that direction, but when a soul is wild with 
grief, and the waves of feeling are breaking over 
the throne of reason, it fails to catch the lessons 
so forcibly taught by natures great instructor — 
experience. He was already a maniac tempo- 
rarily. His eyes glowed with a feverish redness 
that seemed to implore a fountain of tears to 
lave their burning lids, but the fire of torment 
kindled in the soul had dried that fountain 
seemingly forever. A drink of beer made him 
worse. Two drinks of brandy scorched his 
brain into a fever and he was carried to a board- 
ing house on Magazine Street, sick, drunk, or 
crazy, no one could tell which, and a doctor 
called who could not decide the question till 
the next day, and then gave very little hope 
of his recovery, saying he had partial paralysis 
of the brain. When he left his tent the previous 
day he had on a common private’s blouse which he 
wore inside of his quarters for comfort and had no 
indication of rank on or about him, hence when he 
was carried to the boarding house no information 
went out at all^The only^question asked was: 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


39 


“Has he enough money to pay him over this 
little 'pay day’ spree?” He had, and that was 
an end to all questions. 

Late in the evening of the second day the 
doctor said he must die. His temperature 
had fallen far below normal, his pulse was alarm- 
ingly fast and his respiration heavy and un- 
natural. He was growing colder every moment. 

There was an old Irish sailor doing chores 
around the house for his food and old clothes, 
and another Irishman was boarding there who 
had been a confederate soldier but discharged 
for the loss of his left hand and was now foreman 
of a gang of men who were employed on the city 
sewerage — Pat Milligan. He and the old sailor, 
Jimmie Malone, came to America together and 
were confidential friends. 

At noon of the third day, Pat went in and 
gazed for a moment on the unconscious form 
of Captain Carter, and said to the old sailor who 
was passing a peach tree bush back and forth 
over the sick man to keep off the mosquitoes: 

“Jimmie, I was a Confederate and lost this,” 
pointing to his missing hand, “but I lay you he 
was a brave man, and I hate to see him die now 
that he is almost ready to go home if he has one.” 

“I do myself, Pat, and it's pity that keeps 
me watching with him.” 

“Jimmie, and do you remember Mike 
Flenoy?” 


40 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Do I remember Mike? Just ask when I 
made him. But what was you going to say?” 

“You know Jimmie, that Mike shipped with 
us on that little sloop, The Sea Shell, and 
got sick.” 

“Yes, I remember.” 

“Well, Mike got as cold as a fish, and we 
boiled the ears of corn wejiad aboard and put 
them in his bunk till it seemed enough to melt 
the North Pole but it saved Mike.” 

“Now, Jimmie, if some one would warm this 
man with hot bricks, and put towels out of hot 
water to his head it will save him in spite of 
what the doctor says.” 

Jimmie accepted the suggestion and soon had 
the bed full of hot bricks and a vessel of hot 
water from which he would wring a towel and 
place on George’s head every few minutes all 
that afternoon and night and all the next 
day and night without any rest or sleep, 
at which time the patient was conscious 
of his surroundings. When commended for 
his endurance, Jimmie replied with justifiable 
pride : 

“I stood watch on the ship once three days 
and three nights for that many dollars and I am 
sure the young man’s life is worth more.” 

Improvement could barely be noticed till 
the fifth day when they ventured to question 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


41 


George, but he yet thought strongly of killing 
himself and would not give any information 
about his home and friends, or knowledge of his 
local habitation. Jimmie wanted to send for 
the priest but compromised and sent for a young 
Baptist preacher by the name of Seymour, who 
preached occasionally in an unfinished church 
house near that portion of the city of New 
Orleans. When he came and found George in 
‘no condition to be prayed with or talked to he 
left a small testament, and two little tracts in 
it for him and went away promising to call 
again. This little testament and these two 
tracts saved and shaped the life of that man. 

When George was able to get up he did the 
“handsome thing” for Jimmie in the way of 
compensation, made Pat some nice presents 
for the part he had taken in nursing him and 
returned to headquarters and gave Major Saflin 
the first information of his illness. 

lie had given Jimmie his watch while he 
thought he would die and would not take it 
again because he had made up his mind to 
commit suicide, and would have done so but 
for the providences of God. 


42 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


The coming King is at the door, 

Who once the cross for sinners bore, 
But now the righteous ones alone 
He comes to gather home. 

The signs that show his coming near 
Are fast fulfilling year by year, 

And soon we’ll hail the glorious dawn 
Of heaven’s eternal morn. 

Look not on earth for strife to cease, 
Look not below for joy and peace, 

Until the Savior comes again 
To banish death and sin. 

Then in the glorious earth made new 
We’ll dwell the countless ages through; 
This mortal shall immortal be, 

And time, eternity. 


CHAPTER VI. 


In a short time George was discharged but 
not to return home to parents and friends. 
He often said that Jimmie, the old sailor, had 
done him a great injustice in nursing him back 
to consciousness and life to suffer a thousand 
deaths, when if let alone he never would have 
suffered one, for he had passed suffering. 

One day he resolved to put an end to all his 
troubles and accordingly went to the river but 
just before leaping from a steamboat standing 
at the wharf the captain engaged him in con- 
versation and finally employed him as clerk 
and he was on a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio, almost 
before he knew what he was doing. On this 
trip he had ample opportunity to read the New 


44 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Testament and the two tracts given to him by 
the young Baptist preacher, Seymour, but for 
which he would have taken his life several times. 

George had joined the Methodist church as a 
probationer and had gone through his college 
course and the Civil War without ever feeling 
the necessity of personal faith in a personal Savior 
and now that an unparalleled emergency was up- 
on him, he could not claim the promise of a 
“Father in Heaven” nor rest his weary head on 
the stony pillow of God’s truth while waiting for 
the angels of light and hope to descend the ladder 
whose shining sides rested against the very thres- 
hold of Heaven in Jacob’s memorable vision at 
Bethel. He often deplored his partial membership 
in the church as he called it, as a great mistake 
that satisfied him and his friends for the time and 
caused them to neglect personal faith, and grow 
into a sort of formal church life like those men- 
tioned, Matthew 7:21, 22, 23. 

21 Not every one that saitli unto 
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
kingdom of Heaven; but he that do- 
eth the will of my Father which is in 
Heaven. 

22 Many will say to me in that day, 

Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 
in thy name? and in thy name have 
cast out devils? and in thy name done 
many wonderful works? 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


45 


23 And then will I profess unto them, 
I never knew you: depart from me, ye 
that work iniquity. 


One day a clerical looking gentleman came 
aboard and asked for a half fare from Cairo 
to Memphis. George, being young in the steam- 
boat business, referred the matter to the captain 
who said : 

“Certainly, not only a half, but give him 
passage and board free to Memphis.” 

As George turned to walk back to the office 
the old captian hailed him as steamboat men 
call it. 

“Oh, say! What kind of a preacher is that 
you’r getting aboard?” 

“I do not know, but I’ll gamble on his being 
a Methodist.” 

“Well, you know the saying.” 

“No, I do not, what is it?” 

“A Methodist preacher or a gray horse is a 
sure sign of accident to a steamboat.” 

Returning to the office, he found, sure enough, 
that the gentleman in question was a Methodist 
clergyman, but knowing the superstition of 
steamboat men in general and “the old man” 
(as they called him) in particular, he did not 
report his information back to the captain, but 
resolved to make something out of his discovery 


46 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


along the line of his new investigations of 
church matters, therefore, approached the 
subject by asking : 

“What is baptism for, parson?” 

“All people do not baptize for the same pur- 
pose,” said the preacher. “For instance, the 
Catholics baptize for the purpose of saving the 
individuals’ soul and a few other denominations 
do the same. The Baptist baptize the candidate 
because he or she is already saved .” 

“How about you Methodist?” said George. 

“I was just going to tell you about our church 
by reading our article of religion on that sub- 
ject,” and turning to the 17th article, he read: 

XVII. OF BAPTISM. 

“Baptism is not only a sign of profes- 
sion, and mark of difference whereby 
Christians are distinguished from others 
that are not baptized: but it is also a 
sign of regeneration, or the new birth. 

The baptism of young children is to be 
retained in the Church.” 

“This is what our book of discipline says, 
and every person who joins our church, sub- 
scribed to that doctrine. That is our law.” 

“I’m glad I never got all the way in then, 
if all who join subscribe to that article, especially 
the last two lines.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


47 


*“I was baptized when a baby, my parents 
say. Can you tell me what that was for?” 

“Why, that depends on what denomination 
your parents were members of; for as I have 
already said, different branches of the church 
baptize for entirely different purposes.” 

“Will it be true, scripture baptism, when done 
or administered, by different denominations 
in different ways and for different purposes?” 
asked George. 

“I suppose so; but you have not told me what 
your parents were religiously.” 

“Oh, sure enough! They are Methodists.” 

“My advice to you Mr. Carter, is to perfect 
your membership in the church of your parents 
and leave all these perplexing doctrines alone, 
for you’11 never reach the end of them. Leave 
them to the preachers.” 

“I shall never reach the end of mathematics, 
and knew that when I was at college, but no one 
ever advised me to quit thinking and figuring 
just because I should never reach the end. But, 
parson, you have not told me yet why I was 
baptized. I had no inward work of grace and 
have not got it now, yet I was baptized when a 
baby they tell me.” 

“ Well, your parents believed in the Abrahamic 
church and as children were circumcised then, 
Methodists baptize them now.” 

*He was mistaken. His brothers and sisters were. 


48 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Does the Old or New Testament say any- 
thing about an Abrahamic church?” 

“No, I do not remember that such an insti- 
tution is mentioned in the scripture at all.” 

“Where do Methodists and Presbyterians get 
all that talk about an Abrahamic church from 
anyhow?” 

“Realty, I could not tell definitely, but think 
they picked it up from their best writers.” 

“Then, if I understand you, I was baptized, 
and other infants are, because Pedo-baptist 
writers thought there was some sort of organiza- 
tion called an Abrahamic church. Does the 
New Testament mention the ‘baptism of young 
children’ at all?” 

“No, the subject is not mentioned by Christ 
or any of the Apostles.” 

“Why does that 17th article say it must be 
retained in the church then?” 

“I see you’re disposed to argue, Mr. Carter, 
and I do not think any good comes of debate. 
We had better stop this conversation.” 

“I beg your pardon, sir, but you are mistaken. 
I never have questioned one of your answers. 
I have never read the scriptures till recently 
and only the New Testament then.” 

Just at that time the boat struck a snag and 
the captain came in raging and asked with 
regular steamboat emphasis: 


















*7 


THE LAST NIGHT AT THE OLD HOME. 

























































' " . 













# 





























-w 






























































. 










» 


























































• • 

































TWO OLD LETTERS 


49 


“What kind of a preacher was that, ‘Cart./ 
you got aboard? I lay he was a Methodist 
because here we are on a snag, tight as 
thunder.” 

“Captain Clank, allow me to introduce you 
to Rev. Mr. Bollinger,” and George had them 
introduced quick as thought greatly to the 
embarrassment of the captain, who soon made 
things easy, however, by telling Mr. B. about 
the old saying among river men concerning a 
preacher and a gray horse. 

Steamboating did not contribute much aid 
to George’s Bible study and he soon gave it up 
and began to drift “to the bad ” faster and faster 
as the days flew by. He was what one would 
call a drunkard and a gambler, almost before 
he was aware of the progress vice had made 
in his life. 

When the soul its mooring breaks 
And drifts away from God; 

Its aimless course in darkness takes 
To meet the chastening rod — 

A ship dismantled in the storm, 

On passion’s billows rolls; 

The winds and breakers fraught with harm 
To all such drifting souls. 

Its wreckage on some rock-bound shore 
By hand of fate is thrown. 

We call them through the storm’s loud roar — 

For answer get a moan. 

( 4 ) 


50 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


The fiery flash of lightning’s hand 
From passion’s cloud so bold, 

Reveals the wreckage on the strand 
The tale so often told. 

This awful end becomes their choice 
When hope from life departs; 

The friends, who with them did rejoice, 
Bow down with aching hearts. 

This storm began in breezes fair; 

These souls no thunders heard. 

They only trifled here and there 
With warnings in God’s word. 



Stolen waters we will have 
And bread in secret eat. 


God says nay, but let us prove 
This little law a cheat. 

They loved beyond law’s boundary line 
And then began to drift; 

They floated on the current fine 
Until it grew too swift. 

Back! they scream. “Too late, too late,” 
The maddened billows cry. 

Those who little laws doth hate, 

God says, must surely die. 

Then suicide by drug or knife, 

Or pistol shot so loud, 

Ends this deadly, awful strife 
With passion’s dark storm cloud. 


CHAPTER VII. 


In the meantime, Jimmie, the old sailor who 
nursed George back to life, got to feeling like 
a young Irishman, to use his own words, and 
shipped in a vessel by the name of “Martha 
M. Heath.” * 

Jimmie made one trip to New York and re- 
turned as far as the coast of Florida where he 
went ashore for the last time. Having no friends 
he drifted into the country and to Squire 
Gholston's home where he ended his days on this 
earth. He was so kind and good to Miss Hattie 
and she so thoughtful of his wants, that they 
became wonderful friends, and were always 

Note — (While I am copying this M. S. from elaborate notes, 
Capt. C. C. Heath, the Captain of that vessel lives in Corpus 
Christi, Texas.) 


52 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


together when such a thing was possible. Frank 
called him Hattie’s shadow because when she 
went to the yard to work among the flowers, 
Jimmie was there also. He would walk on his 
poor swollen feet clear to the village just to 
return with her and carry her lunch basket from 
school where she was teaching. He had been 
everywhere, knew all history worth remembering 
and had the biography of all great men on his 
tongue’s end. When his limbs became so stiff 
and swollen that he could not walk to meet her, 
he would sit on the portico and watch for her 
return and then hobble to the gate and take 
the basket from her hand and carry it into the 
house. One day she was returning from school 
repeating : 

“When chill November’s surly blast 
Made fields and forests bare, 

One evening as I wandered forth 
Along the banks of Ayr, 

I spied a man whose aged steps 
Seemed weary, worn with care, 

His face was furrowed o’er with years 
And hoary was his hair. 

— Robert Burns. 

The falling leaves had suggested this poem 
and Jimmie’s fondness for it led her to recite " 
it as she walked along. When she came in sight 
of home she did not see him on the portico and 
a shudder came over her, bringing the great 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


53 


tears to her sweet blue eyes for she knew that poor 
Jimmie was not able to hobble even to the front 
door or he would have been there to greet her 
with a smile. 

She ran to his little room and found him on 
his bed rubbing his limbs with turpentine 
(his main remedy) and said: 

“ Uncle Jimmy, are you very sick?” 

“No, child; I guess I’m just worn out.” 

“You’re cold. Lie down and I will put a 
warm brick or two about you and rub you also.” 

“Thank you, child! That one-handed Irish- 
man — Pat Milligan — said God would reward 
me, when I stayed up two nights and three days 
to keep the ice melted in the veins of that young 
Federal officer, and he has, for I’m ahead of the 
captain — he had an Irishman to nurse him, I 
have an Angel to do for me. Thanks to the Holy 
Mother.” 

“So you’ve nursed some too, Uncle Jimmie, 
I see from your remark.” 

“Yes, child; and my last case was a bad one. 
The poor fellow was worse off than I am now 
and I doubt not that I shall die soon.” 

“Oh, I hope not!” interrupted Hattie. 

“But I got full compensation both in money 
and gratitude. The fellow really wanted to 
die, but he credited me for my good intention 
and was grateful to me just the same.” 


54 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Why did he wish to die?” 

“Oh! it was this way: He saw in some news- 
paper a notice of his sweetheart’s marriage and 
resolved to drown his sorrow in drink which 
was too much for him, not being accustomed 
to wine. All of it taken together gave him para- 
lysis of the brain and he w r as as cold as a fish 
for three days, unconscious for seven, and 
unable to talk for nine.” 

“Here comes ’Cinda with your supper. 
Bless her old heart, she’s black, but I would 
have been in the mad-house or dead long ago 
but for her prayers and encouragement.” 

’Cinda’s big black eyes filled with tears as 
she said: 

“I knows God’s gwine to bring things out 
all right.” Jimmie chimed in Irishman like: 

“That’s my doctrine too ’Cinda, and the 
old man’s happy every day, thanks to the 
Holy Mother.” 

Hattie fed him with her own hands, as his 
were drawn out of shape, swollen and shaky; 
bathed his feet in warm mustard water and took 
her seat at his bedside to comfort him till he 
was ready to sleep. 

The next morning she sent word to the village 
to get a jmung lady friend to teach in her place 
for she would not leave Jimmie, who had grown 
much weaker. About eight o’clock he ate a few 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


55 


bites, drank a sip or two of coffee, complimented 
’Cinda on her fine cooking and fixed himself 
for the enjoyment of Hattie’s company, for he 
had learned that she had given up teaching to 
nurse and comfort him. 

He had a wallet, as he called it, in which he 
kept a few plain clothes and other little articles 
unknown to all but himself. He called for this 
and asked her to untie it, as his hands were so 
swollen, which she did with a feeling akin to 
reverence and well she did, for the few relics 
it contained were of an unusually sacred char- 
acter — mementos of undying love. He took 
an expensive ring first and said: 

“Miss, I never told Pat Milligan (and he came 
across with me from the old country,) but you 
shall know it. I bought that for my intended 
bride, but God (here he made the sign of the 
cross) took her, and I have carried it since. 
Give that to the priest when he comes to do 
the last rites for me.” 

“And this” — taking a fine watch from his 
wallet — “belonged to the young captain I 
nursed of whom I was telling you last night. 
Ah! he was a man among men.” 

“I thought he got well,” Hattie said. 

“He did, child, but it was this way. He gave 
me the watch when he was so sure he’d die. 
I went to give it back to him and he would not 


56 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


take it. He said a girl whom he loved more than 
life had evidently given him up as dead in the 
war and married, and that he fully intended to 
commit suicide, by jumping into the river, 
therefore, did not want the watch, containing 
his mother’s picture on his person. Uncle 
Jimmie will soon be gone and you can have the 
watch — passing it to her — and remember us 
both.” 

She opened it and gazed at the picture a few 
moments and said: 

“Jimmie, what was that young officer’s 
name?” 

“Captain George Carter,” was the reply. 

The watch fell from her hand, her breath 
simply stopped while her heart became still 
as a stone and seemingly as heavy, and she arose 
and left the room with much agitation. Her 
mother, seeing her emotion, said : 

“Is Jimmie dying or dead?” 

“No, mamma, but he has just told me some- 
thing that makes me wish I were, and I cannot 
understand, for the life of me, how it all came 
about.” 

Then she acknowledged (as she should have 
done before) her continued interest in George 
Carter, and told her mother all about the whole 
thing from beginning to end. After a moment’s 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


57 


reflection, Mrs. Gholston, a woman of great 
shrewdness, said: 

“ Hattie; it all comes to me like a flash. You 
know when Hettie Helton was married it got 
into the Chronicle Hattie Gholston. She 
being your half-sister was called by that name 
by our nearest neighbors in Mississippi. Now 
George saw it in that paper, or one that had 
copied it from the Chronicle and was misled.” 

“But oh! mamma! think of it! He died 
thinking I was false to my sacred obligation.” 

‘Cinda, whose curiosity passed all limit at 
this new excitement, and whose personal privi- 
lege admitted her to all parts of the house at all 
times, was there to remark: 

“Who said he died anyhow?” 

“No one, but I know he did or I would have 
gotten an answer from my “two letters” 
written about that time.” 

There was no “let up” in ’Cinda’s faith and 
she went back to the kitchen to look after the 
dinner, muttering: 

“God’s gwine to bring dis here thing out all 
right. He sho’ is.” 

“Where do I smell all that turpentine and 
coal oil?” said Hattie, looking only to behold 
Jimmie standing in the door with his night 
clothes on and his feet wrapped in rags saturated 
yvith those favorite medicines of his. In spite 


58 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


of the fact that he was almost dying, he had 
crawled out of his bed and taken in the entire 
situation; and for one time, at least,, his sweet, 
old, rough, red face looked sad as the grave, 
his eyes were filled with tears and his lips quiv- 
ered with emotion. 

Hattie led him back to his little room, covered 
him well in bed and put her face down on his 
neck and opened in silence a fountain of tears. 
Neither spoke for a long time, because Jimmie 
really thought George had committed suicide 
and he did not care to talk with her at all unless 
he could give her some hope, but finally his 
faith prevailed and he began, Irishman like, 
on the bright side of this sad subject: 

“All I know, of myself, is discouraging; but 
the words of that one-handed Irishman, Pat 
Milligan, and the good providences of God, 
kind o ’ lead me to believe that black ’Cinda is 
right about it — that God is going to bring it 
out all right.” Pat said: ‘God will reward 
you, Jimmie, for nursing that young man/ and 
here I am nursed in my last illness by the very 
one he loved above all else.” 

“Don’t say ‘last illness/ Uncle Jimmy. I 
hope you’ll get well very soon.” 

“No, child, I don’t care to, if only you’ll 
watch with me. I’m too old. I would like to 
live till Captain George comes, but I hardly 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


59 


shall. Tell him about old Uncle Jim, and give 
him my blessing.” 

Hattie wiped the scalding ears from her eyes, 
pushed back a little and looking him full in the 
face, said: 

“Uncle Jimmy, do you think he will ever 
come?” 

“I do, since I have studied these strange 
providences; but for the present child, let us 
finish dividing my things.” He wanted to get 
her mind off the disturbing matter as much as 
possible. 

“There, Uve carried that razor about forty 
one-years. Give that to Frank.” 

“There are the pictures of my father and 
mother. For the life of me I cant* tell you what 
to do with them.” 

“I’ll keep them till I die for your sake Uncle 
Jimmie,” said Hattie, “if you will let me.” 

“Very well; have it that way child, and we 
will not bother to administer on and divide my 
estate any further, you can do just as you like 
with the other little traps.” 

“I notice I'm worse every third day, so 
please have the priest come the day after to- 
morrow and I’ll get ready to meet my record 
as all men must.” 

“ Here comes ’Cinda with your dinner. Can’t 
you eat a bite with me?” 


60 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


After a few bites, in which Hattie joined to 
make him happy and a good long nap the old 
man was very much refreshed and full of talk; 
and, being finely educated in Dublin, 
Ireland, with a whole life spent in reading 
history and ethics, he could speak with definite 
information on* almost any subject known to 
the schools. 

“ Uncle Jimmie, I want to ask you a question, 
purely for information.” 

“All right, my child, I’ll answer as best I 
can. What is it?” 

“It is this: Why will not our Methodist 
pastor do as well as your priest?” 

“That’s a grave question but if you will give 
me a little lemonade to wet my throat I’ll an- 
swer. Once upon a time our Lord had a church 
on this earth for he said : 

Mat. 16: 

18 And I say also unto thee, That 
thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will 
build my church, and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail aganist it. 

That church was ‘ one body ’ with one form of 
government and one book of laws.” 

She said, “I believe all that, from reading 
the New Testament, but what puzzles me is 
the hundreds of different denominations now, 
all wanting to be called a church.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


61 


“That is a puzzle, but I'll go on. There is a 
little Testament in my wallet given to me by 
my last captain at sea — Captain C. C. Heath — 
please take it and read (your eyes are young). 
Ephesians 4: 

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, 
even as ye are called in one hope of your 
calling: 

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 

6 One God and Father of all, who is 
above all, and through all, and in you all. 

That proves what I first said — the oneness 
of the church, and now I am ready to answer 
your question. 

(1) If that were the Catholic Church then 
the Methodist cannot be right, because they 
had no existence for seventeen hundred years 
afterwards and now differ much from that 
original plan. 

(2) If that were not the Catholic Church then 
Catholics are wrong and the Methodist neces- 
sarily are also because they originated from the 
Catholic Church and are only two steps removed 
from it. 

The Catholic Church may be wrong; the Meth- 
odist Church must be wrong, though its members 
are as good and pious as any in the round world. 
I want the priest for his official ministrations. 
Merely to teach me morals, your Methodist 


62 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


preacher would do just as well, possibly better 
for he is a good pious man.” 

“Uncle Jimmie, you make a fine distinction 
between 1 official ministration ’ and moral work 
or teaching.” 

“I do; and it’s all in that distinction.” 

He went on: “The other day when the old 
man Colbin was about to die, they sent for 
your father to officially take the acknowledge- 
ment of his will — your father is a justice of the 
Peace you know.” 

“Yes, I remember,” she said. 

“Mr. Clary, your Sunday school superinten- 
dent, was there reading the Bible and comforting 
the old man. Why didn’t he attend to the will? 
He is a good man.” 

“I see plainly the distinction,” she said. 
“One is an official act having legal authority 
behind it. The other is a moral work that any 
body can do. For instance, our ‘Jonathan and 
David’ society has done, and is doing, a great 
moral work, but its officers never would think 
of baptizing or marrying any one, or adminis- 
tering the Lord’s Supper.” 

“You have the correct idea,” said Jimmie. 
“And yet the officers of your society have just 
as much right to baptize folks as any Methodist 
preacher or other Protestant denomination. 
They all started as societies , and worked along, 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


63 


little by little, till they ventured to call them- 
selves churches, and assumed the right to offi- 
cially act as such. That is why I want the 
priest.” 

“I notice the name ‘Martha M. Heath ’ in 
the back of this Testament,” said Hattie. 

“Exactly. That was the wife of my captain 
on my last trip at sea; and a great and good 
woman she must have been to make a Baptist 
and such a good Christian out of the old 
Captain.” 

“Your Captain was a Baptist, then, was he?” 

“A Baptist? John the Baptist was no 
stronger in that faith the day he baptized our 
Lord in the River Jordan.” 

“Uncle Jimmie, do you believe our Lord was 
baptized in the River Jordan — dipped or im- 
mersed in the water?” 

“I certainly do. Turn there and read for 
yourself and you will know it.” Mat. 3: 

In those days came John the Baptist, 
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 

2 And saying, Repent ye: for the king- 
dom of heaven is at hand. 

5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, 
and all Judea, and all the region round 
about Jordan. 

6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, 
confessing their sins. 

********* 

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, 


64 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


went up straightway out of the water; 

“Christ’s disciples were among the people 
and saw him baptized, and when they came 
to do it they followed the same example. 
Please turn and read, your eyes are good.” 

Acts 8: 

38 And he commanded the chariot to 
stand still: and they went down both into 
the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and 
he baptized him. 

39 And when they were come up out of 
the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught 
away Philip, that the eunuch saw him 
no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. 

“But, Uncle Jimmie, this don’t tell us he 
was put under the water.” 

“Well, turn and read: 

Romans 6: 

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as 
were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap- 
tized into his death? 

4 Therefore we are buried with him 
by baptism into death: that like as Christ 
was raised up from the dead by the glory 
of the Father, even so we also should 
walk in newness of life. 

Colossians 2: 

2: 12 Buried with him in baptism, 

wherein also ye are risen with him through 
the faith of the operation of God, who 
hath raised him from the dead. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


65 


There are many passages like these but I 
only refer you to a few. You can look the 
others up at your leisure. I am too exhausted 
to talk more.” 

“Excuse me, Uncle Jimmie, I had grown 
so interested in your talk I lost sight of the 
fact that you were sick. I, like most others, 
have accepted all my church doctrine blindly 
and never thought about these questions before. 
One really ought to study them sooner than I 
have but we are not encouraged to do so. ,, 



(51 


66 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


’Tis midnight; and on Olive’s brow 
The star is dimmed that lately shown : 

’Tis midnight; in the garden, now, 

The suffering Savior prays alone. 

’Tis midnight; and from all removed, 
The Savior wrestles lone with fears; 

E’en that disciple whom he loved 

Heeds not his Master’s grief and tears. 

’Tis midnight; and for others’ guilt 
The Man of sorrows weeps in blood; 

Yet he who hath in anguish knelt, 

Is not forsaken by his God. 

’Tis midnight; and from ether plains 
Is borne the song that angels know; 

Unheard by mortals are the strains 
That sweetly soothe the Savior’s woe. 

— William B. Tappan. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


Hattie went to work at once to secure the 
services of the priest at the time mentioned, 
and to her surprise when he came, found him 
a most cultivated, courteous, gentleman. 

Father Bordeaux (pronounced Bordo) was 
so well entertained that he remained one day 
longer than he expected, and Hattie soon found 
herself asking him questions about church 
matters — government ordinances, etc. 

“ Father Bordeaux, Jimmie told me that 
Christ was baptized in the water and that all 
the early Christians were immersed. Is it true? 
I could not believe it.” 


68 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Certainly it's true. I was not aware that 
anyone denied it who had ever read church 
history.” 

“Can you tell me how it happened to be 
changed to sprinkling and pouring?” 

“I can. But you can find out that yourself. 
I see you have quite an ecclesiastical library 
in the other room.” 

“Yes, my uncle was a Methodist preacher 
and gave his library to mamma at his death. 
I want you to tell me.” 

He began: “Our Church — Catholic — has 

met the growing demands of mankind in every 
age since the days of Christ, and, in order to 
meet a demand of society, changed the ordinance 
of baptism from immersion to sprinkling; and 
we think the change a very desirable one- 
Don't you? It is more convenient.” 

“I'm not sure,” she said, “unless I knew 
what authority the Catholic Church had for 
making the change, and who did it. One thing 
I know, we ought not to consider the matter 
of convenience.” 

“Pope Stephen III, in the year 753, and 
afterward the council at Ravenna accepted 
the change in our church,” said he. “Pope 
Pius Y, and a committee of the Council of Trent, 
gave the world a catechism and called attention 
to the change authorized by the committee, 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


69 


and it was finally accepted by all. Even 
Protestants are accepting it. Take your own 
church for instance. Mr. Wesley tried to hold 
on to the Apostolic form of baptism by immer- 
sion, but the growing sentiment was too strong. 
He had to accept the change.” 

“Did Mr. Wesley believe that immersion was 
the old way of baptizing — the way Christ 
and the Apostles did it?” she asked. 

“Eli let you answer your own question and 
you’ll be better satisfied. Please bring me 
that book called ‘ Wesley’s Notes’ from your 
uncle’s library. (She brought it). Now turn 
to Romans VI, 4, and read what he says by 
way of comment on that verse.” She read: 
‘ We are buried with him,’ alluding to the ancient 
manner of baptizing.’ Again read: Colossians 
2:12: ‘ Buried with him in baptism.’ ‘The 

ancient manner of baptizing by immersion is 
as manifestly alluded to here,’ etc. When you 
carry this book back, take down Vol. I of 
‘Wesley’s Works,’ and turn to page 130 and 
you will find that he immersed Mary Welsh 
and positively refused to baptize Mrs. Parker’s 
child because she would not submit to an 
immersion.” 

Hattie hurried away, found “Wesley’s Works” 
and discovered that the priest was correct — 
Wesley believed in immersion. But she hurried 


70 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


back to ask: “Father Bordeaux, didn’t Mr. 
Wesley believe in sprinkling also?” 

“Yes, my daughter, but he believed that 
immersion was the ancient manner, as you have 
seen from his writings. Away back there when 
our church changed the baptismal ordinance 
from dipping to sprinkling there were no Protes- 
tants, and only a few Baptists, and there being 
no one to question the change but the little 
handful of Baptists, it was accepted generally, 
so that, when the reformation came, all the 
denominations going out from us — Catholics — 
carried sprinkling with them, but never for once 
denied that immersion was the ‘ ancient manner ’ 
of baptizing. Your uncle was a Methodist 
preacher and had standard Pedo-baptist books. 
Go, bring me Vol. 1, of Mosheim’s church history 
and I’ll show jmu.” 

The book was there almost before he reached 
the words “I’ll show you,” and, turning to 
page 108, edition 1821, he read: “The sacrament 
of baptism was administered in this century 
without the public assemblies, in places ap- 
pointed and prepared for that purpose and was 
performed by immersion of the whole body 
in the baptismal font.” This was the first 
century, and sprinkling had not come in.” 

“Was Mr. Mosheim, a Pedo-baptist, and be- 
lieved that?” she inquired with emphasis. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


71 


“He was, and he was Chancellor of the Uni- 
versity of Gottingen at that. I will say further, 
I do not know a writer of church history who 
does not substantially say the same thing, 
and it’s the whole truth.” 

“Excuse me, Father Bordeaux, I am afraid 
I have neglected Jimmie.” 

“Certainly, daughter, for waiting on the sick 
is more important than talking church history. 
We are not so much concerned about what the 
church used to be. What it now is — that’s the 
question.” 

She -would not argue with the priest but said 
to herself, as she hurried away to look after 
Jimmie: “I think we are concerned about what 
the church ‘used to be’ unless it can be shown 
that the Catholics had a right to change its 
form of government, laws, and ordinances, and 
this I very much doubt.” 

“Well, Uncle Jimmie, bless your soul! How 
are you getting on?” 

“All right, Miss. I feel better.” 

“I’m so glad! I got to talking with Father 
Bordeaux and was afraid I had neglected you.” 

“No, child, ’Cinda has been in several times, 
and she told me what a theological school you 
and the Father were having. I was glad, for 
that priest is a scholarly man.” 


72 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Yes, but, Uncle Jimmie, if our Lord and 
the Apostles practiced and commanded im- 
mersion for baptism as you and Father Bor- 
deaux and the writers of church history say, 
and, if the Catholic Church, changed it to 
sprinkling, which seems to be true, and, if the 
Methodist Church got sprinkling in that way, 
I do not feel that I am baptized at all. Fm not 
satisfied/’ 

“Your baptism comes just that way, but it’s 
all right, for the Holy Catholic Church had a 
right to change immersion to sprinkling and 
did it.” 

“It may have been all right to change it, 
but I can’t believe it; for if baptism had been 
given as a symbol to teach a certain lesson, 
and all admit this, that lesson is totally lost 
in the change. Sprinkling cannot symbolize 
anything that is properly taught by dipping.” 

“If you don’t look out, my little Miss, you’ll 
be as strong a Baptist as my old sea captain I 
was telling you of — Capt. Heath. I thought I 
should die laughing at him one day in an argument 
with a man on board the ship. I think it was 
the ship’s mate. He (the mate) argued stoutly 
that immersion, sprinkling and pouring were all 
baptisms. The captain showed that the word 
baptize simply meant to dip, immerse, plunge 
and that to talk about baptizing a man by 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


73 


sprinkling was as silly as to say a man was 
‘dipped by sprinkling’ or plunged by pouring 
(By the way, I never knew till then that Webster 
in his Unabridged Dictionary stated positively 
that the' verb baptize comes from a Greek word 
which means ‘to dip in water.’) See Webster’s 
Dictionary.” “ Just at that moment,” continued 
Jimmy, “some one yelled out ‘Fitz Hcgan is 
overboard!’ In a moment we had him aboard 
and returned to hear the debate. The old 
captain was sittihg on a water barrel with a 
grin on his face, I knew it was coming when he 
said : ‘ Boys, did Fitz fall in the sea by sprinkling 
or by pouring or by immersion? ’ You just ought 
to have heard those Irishmen laugh. The mate 
saw the force of the question and as he walked 
astern said: ‘The old man is a hard-headed 
crank.”’ 

“Jimmie, if I believed like you I’d be a Bap- 
tist like ’Cinda and your sea captain. They 
are right.” 

“Now I’ll puzzle you, my child, by saying 
that, if I believed like you, common sense 
would force me to be a Baptist.” 

“Yes, I own up you ‘puzzle me,’ and I want 
you to explain, then I may have ‘common 
sense’ enough to join ’Cinda’s church. She’s 
a Baptist.” 


74 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“It’s this way: (1) The Catholic Church 
changed the form of its government from a 
Democratic to an Episcopal form — taking the 
power out of the hands of the people and putting 
it into the hands of the Pope. There is where 
the Methodists get the one-man power. Your 
government came from us. (2) The Catholic 
Church changed baptism from immersion to 
sprinkling. There is where sprinkling originated. 
I believe the church had a right to make both 
changes, and others also, hence the monarchial 
government is right. • You believe the church 
had no right to make the change and yet practice 
the two changes we made and, that too, without 
any other authority for so doing than the 
Catholic change.” 

“I have ‘common sense' enough to see the 
force of that logic,” she said. 

“Don't saw me any more with that word 
‘common sense.' I didn't mean any reflection 
on you when I employed it.” 

“I confess it stung me when you first used 
it,” she said, “but I deserved it. ‘Common 
sense' is the word, and the whole matter re- 
solves itself into a common sense proposition: 
1. If the Catholic Church had the right to make 
these changes then that organization is right 
and I ought to belong to it. 2. If it had no 
right to make these changes then these denomi- 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


75 


nations that come out of the Catholic Church, 
bringing the changes with them, cannot be 
right and I ought not to be a member of one 
of them — the Methodist. 3. The Baptists, who 
deny all right to change anything about the 
church, and hold on to the original form of 
church government, and the ‘ancient manner 
of baptizing/ as Mr. Wesley calls it, of necessity 
must be right if the ‘niggers’ are all Baptist.” 

“Good for my little girl! You are growing 
quite logical, and correct in your reasoning 
even if it is against your training.” 

“I do not believe the church has a right to 
change anything about itself. Our Lord left 
it just as he wanted it to remain till the end of 
time; and I do not believe in this ‘growing’ you 
mention, when it relates to changing form of 
government and the ordinance of baptism and 
the number and power of church officers, etc.” 

“Then child, you’ll have to leave the Metho- 
dist and join ’Cinda’s church sure as the good 
will of St. Patrick; for since I’ve been in America, 
these thirty-seven years, I’ve noted nine changes 
in the Methodist Church,* and now they are 
going to change their form of government from 
a monarchy to a sort of semi-republic by giving 
the people the right to representation in their 
conference, along with the preachers.” 

♦Note. — This change was made when (he General Conference 
met at New Orleans, about 1870 


76 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Yes, I’ve read all about that change but I 
never stopped to think until now, how far- 
reaching this right to change is. It is a serious 
matter, because the right to change at all 
carries with it the right to make any sort, of 
change as the years go by.” 

“It is not serious to me. I believe my church 
is infallible and has a right to make all these 
changes; but Methodists ■'deny the right of the 
Catholic Church to change these things by the 
authority of its Pope and councils and then 
incorporate into their own church the very 
changes Catholics have made. Infant baptism, 
for instance, was authorized and introduced by 
our Councils and the Popes. It never was men- 
tioned in the scriptures, nor practiced by the 
early church. It came in by the changes the 
Catholic Church had a right to make, and the 
Methodist got it from us. I received it in in- 
fancy, and, according to my theory, can con- 
sistently believe in it. According to your theory 
you can’t believe in it, and yet you have no 
other baptism.” 

“Isn’t infant baptism mentioned at all in 
the scriptures?” she asked. 

“No, child, not even remotely hinted at but 
my church added it to meet the demands of 
society and I believe in it. Methodists got it 
from us.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


77 


“Uncle Jimmie, while I was glancing at the 
name ‘Martha M. Heath 7 on the flyleaf of your 
Testament the other day my eye fell on these 
last verses in the book, and they impressed me. 77 

Rev. 22: 

18 For I testify unto every man that 
heareth the words of the prophecy of 
this book, If any man shall add unto these 
things, God shall add unto him the plagues 
that are written in this book : 

19 And if any man take away from the 
words of the book of this prophecy, God 
shall take away his part out of the book 
of life, and out of the holy city, and from 
the things which are written in this book. 

“How can men make changes on the Church 
of God with these’ verses before their eyes? 77 

A week from that date brought an elaborate 
funeral to a penniless man, while a heart 
wrapped in gloom waited future developments. 
While Jimmie 7 s body was being lowered into 
the grave, Hattie began to reason over some 
verses that had been suggested during her recent 
investigations and she called up I Cor. 15: 

29 Else what shall they do, which are 
baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not 
at all? why are they then baptized for 
the dead? 

Romans 6: 

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as 
were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap- 
tized into his death? 


78 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


4 Therefore we are buried with him by 
baptism into death; that like as Christ 
was raised up from the dead by the glory 
of the Father, even so we also should walk 
in newness of life. 

5 For if we have been planted together 
in the likeness of his death, we shall be 
also in the likeness of his resurrection: 

Colossians 2: 

12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein 
also ye are risen with him through the 
faith of the operation of God, who hath 
raised him from the dead. 

“And Mr. Wesley,” she said to herself, 
“says in his notes on the New Testament that 
these verses refer to the ancient manner of 
baptizing by immersion.” 

As she beheld the body of her old friend 
lowered and covered in the grave and as she 
contemplated the resurrection she said: 

“That negro preacher had it all right at 
their baptismal service last Sunday when he 
said: ‘Baptism is a symbol, teaching people 
of every language one and the same lesson about 
death and resurrection. Sprinkling don’t teach 
that lesson.” 

When she began to accept the simple meaning 
of these and other verses like them it was all 
plain enough and easily understood, but the 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


79 


idea of believing and practicing like the negroes 
was a £reat drawback for she had been taught 
that refined and educated people did not “go 
down into the water ” and “come up out of 
the water” — negroes and ignorant folks did 
that way. When she returned home she read 
again Acts 8: 

37 And Philip said, If thou believest 
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And 
he answered and said, I believe that Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God. 

38 And he commanded the chariot to 
stand still; and they went down both into 
the water, both Philip and the eunuch; 
and he baptized him. 

39 And when they were come up out of 
the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught 
away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no 
more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 

“And that is a description of a baptism in the 
days of the Apostles, but it does not describe 
my baptism or any I ever saw except those 
performed by 'Cinda’s pastor — the negro 
preacher,” said she to herself. 

Matthew 3: 

13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to 
Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 

14 But John forbade him, saying, I have 
need to be baptized of thee, and comest 
thou to me? 


80 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


15 And Jesus answering said unto him, 
Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh 
us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he 
suffered him. 

16 And Jesus, when he was Liptized, 
went up straightway out of the water: 
and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, 
and he saw the Spirit of God descending 
like a dove, and lighting upon him : 


Lord, we are vile, and full of sin, 

We’re born unholy and unclean; 
Sprung from the man whose guilty fall 
Corrupts his race, and taints us all. 

Soon as we draw our infant breath 
The seeds of sin grow up for death; 
Thy law demands a perfect heart, 

But we’re defiled in every part. 

Nor bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast, 
Nor hyssop branch, nor earthly priest, 
Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea, 
Can wash the dismal stain away. 

Jesus, thy blood, thy blood alone; 
Hath power sufficient to atone; 

Thy blood can make us white as snow; 
No other tide can cleanse us so. 

— Isaac Watts. 



REV. R. G. SEYMOUR, D. D. 

Missionary and Bible Secretary, American Baptist 
Publication Society. 




CHAPTER IX. 


George Carter, poor fellow! was still yielding 
to his troubles and dissipations so far that 
Captain Clank was liable to discharge him from 
the boat at any time. One day at Cairo a 
slight-of-hand man came aboard and won five 
dollars off of him in less than a minute with 
three shells and some little cork balls. The sad- 
dest feature of it all was that the money belonged 
to the office — not to George. 

When they landed at Memphis he went to 
the captain and said: “How much is due me on 
wages, captain?” He knew, but this was his 
way of approaching the subject. 

“I'll see. Why, you are overdrawn now, 

Mr. Carter, $20.50.” 

(6) 


82 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Captain, if I needed money badly how 
much would you give me for this watch, as a 
pure business transaction, leaving our friendship 
clear out of the question?” 

“The watch is worth $50. On the condition 
you mention I'd give you $40, as a speculation, 
you understand.” 

“Take it and give me the money.” 

“Yes, but George, I don't want to deal with 
you that way. If you need $40 you can have it.” 

“Give me $40, and take this watch,” said 
he, with an emphasis accompanied by a look 
calculated to make the knees of terror quake. 

Captain Clank, alarmed at his changed voice 
and expression, handed him $40, and George 
laid the watch in the show-case — the captain 
would not take it — and walked around on the 
other side of the little counter and began set- 
tlement with Captain Clank. 

“Here's $20.50 overdrawn salary. Here is 
$5.00 stolen money” 

“ Please don't call it stolen money, Captain 
Carter. If you took $5.00 out of the drawer in 
a business transaction I do not regard it ‘stolen.' 
What's the matter with you?” 

“Simply this: If I must go to the dogs my 
honor and a high regard for the teachings of 
my mother shall remain with me. A man is 
fool enough when he bets on another man's 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


83 


trick, but when he steals the money to gamble 
with, he multiplies the force of the word fool 
a thousand times, and then adds the full mean- 
ing of the word thief.” 

He walked out of the office to begin a new 
career in spite of the captain’s effort to console, 
and retain him in the service of the boat. As 
he walked away Captain Clank remarked : 
“that fellow is the very soul of honor, but I 
greatly fear he is ruined forever. He has suf- 
fered some great trouble but' I never could 
draw him out. He handles all the money, and 
correctly too, but because he used $5 before it 
had been paid to him he felt like a thief.” 

George obtained a position but lost it right 
soon through strong drink. He went to work 
at a livery stable and while intoxicated, broke 
a hack to pieces and was discharged. He hired 
himself out as porter at a saloon and it was here 
that he “came to himself.” His appetite for 
drink had grown strong, irresistibly so, but his 
pride would not permit him to beg and his 
poverty would not allow him to buy, till he had 
earned some money; so four days following his 
acceptance of the position as porter in the saloon 
he was ordered to roll out and pile up some beer 
kegs. While thus engaged he found himself 
draining the beer from these empty kegs into 
an oyster can and drinking it, though it had 


84 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


grown stale and offensive. When the full extent 
of his degradation dawned upon him, he began 
to talk to himself for it seemed as if he had 
awakened from a dream — a horrid nightmare— 
to a painful consciousness of the situation. 

“If Hattie Gholston, married or single, could 
see me drinking this old stale beer drained out 
of these kegs she would simply die of grief 
and I would die of shame. What do I mean? 
God help me!” 

To add further to his feeling of degradation 
at that moment the bartender yelled out rudely 
—he was rough — 

“Cart., hurry up and bring a bucket of water 
from Cafery’s well, I have an old crank in here 
who will not take his drink till I get some water 
out of that hole-in- the-ground.” 

George came with the water, and whom should 
he see but Major Saffin standing at the bar with 
a glass of whiskey in his hand waiting for the 
water. For shame he could not look up and for 
fear of being recognized he would not, so he 
gazed at the floor as if he never had had a coun- 
tenance to look a man in the face, and sneaked 
out without being known by his old companion. 
As he took his seat on a beer keg, now com- 
pletely overcome by his feelings, he said with 
anguish in every tone: 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


85 


“It ‘bites like a serpent and stings like an 
adder’ in more ways than one.” 

Draining the beer (left by respectable (?) 
drinkers in the kegs) out into an old oyster can 
and drinking it suggested the prodigal son, 
eating “the husks that the swine did not eat,” 
and he said: 

“I will arise and go to my father.” 

At this juncture he walked into the saloon 
with as much determination as he had when 
he resigned his place on the boat, and said: 

“How much is due me, Fred?” 

“Why, nothing much. You’ve only been 
here three or four days.” 

“Well, that’s four days too much for a decent 
gentleman,” said George. 

“I admit that Cart, but I thought you suited 
your job first rate.” 

“I did suit the job when I began, but I waked 
up an hour ago from a stupor which has lasted 
twenty months. You and I are very much 
unlike seeing the characteristic that suits one 
to this sort of job, viz: — indecency. The 
longer you stay, the better you are suited to 
the place, while four days totally unfitted me 
to remain. I’m going this very day.” 

“What does the old man pay you?” 

“One dollar per day.” 

“Then, of course, he owes you $4.00.” 


86 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Yes, and I want you to hand that to Mother 
Cafery for my board and tell her I’m gone; 
that mere notion to be a ‘decent gentleman’ 
totally disqualified me for my job.” 

“Have you got any money?” 

“Not a cent.” 

“How are you going to get away.” 

“I have written to my father to send me 
money to Cincinnati, and Captain Clank, for 
whom I used to work, is here now with his boat 
and will carry me to that point by the time the 
money gets there.” 

“Who’ll ‘feed your face’ on that long trip 
to Cincinnati, if you have no money? You had 
better keep the $4.00 and let the board bill go.” 

At this suggestion George grew angry and 
said: 

“Never mind who feeds my face.” Hand 
me the $4.00, and I’ll carry it to her myself for 
I see you’re so well ‘suited’ to your job that I 
cannot trust you to pay it when I’m gone.” 

So saying, he took the money, carried it to 
his landlady, got his little cheap grip containing 
a few cheaper clothes and was off for the boat 
now almost ready to start up the river, with a 
feeling of superlative relief known only to those 
who overcome pride and sinful habit by an 
unbending decision to do the right thing. He 
was perfectly willing that the folks about the 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


87 


saloon should know that he intended to change 
his course, and this meant much, for ordinarily 
wicked men are really ashamed to let any one 
know of a good purpose in the heart. Thus the 
devil uses one wicked man to keep others in line 
and never pays them for the good service they 
render to his cause except in: 

“The wages of sin is death. ” Rom. 6:23. 


88 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


In His Good Time. 

a. J. BURDICK. 

Not for long the storms are raging; 

Not for long the shadows fall; 
Heaven, God and sweetest sunshine 
Hold dominion over all. 

And the winds will cease their wailing; 

And the storms will sink to rest: 
Bright again will fall the sunlight 
When the dear Lord deemeth best. 

Not for long the heart must suffer; 

Not for long the bitter pain. 

Love at last will be triumphant; 

Peace shall come to us again. 

And the piercing thorns of sorrow 
That now fret the throbbing breast, 
Will be plucked from out the bosom 
When the dear Lord deemeth best. 


CHAPTER X. 


Hattie did not return to school work at once 
after Jimmie’s death but left it in the hands of 
the young lady who occupied her place during 
his sickness, and resolved to investigate some 
of those church questions raised in her mind 
by Jimmie and Father Bordeaux, the priest. 
Her uncle’s fine theological library had been 
there all the time but it never had occurred to 
her to study the right or wrong of church doc- 
trines. That old deceptive saying “ anything 
will do if you are honest about it” had settled 
all doctrinal questions for her but now she began 
to see that “ anything” would not do. 


90 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


The priest had said that all historians of any 
note gave immersion as the form of baptism 
in the days of Christ and the Apostles, and for 
several hundred years following. She addressed 
herself to this question finding in her uncle’s 
library most of the books referred to by Father 
Bordeaux. As she read she made notes of the 
words employed by the different authors until 
she became perfectly astonished at the united 
testimony of all historians. When she carried 
the following notes to her mother, she said: 

“I am really in trouble, mother.” 

“What’s the matter, my child?” 

(1) “I don’t want to think Uncle Morris was 
insincere as a minister.” 

(2) “I do not want to think he was an idiot.” 

(3) “I do not want to think he was blinded 
by prejudice.” 

“Why should you do either?” 

“ Because the very books he bought and 
studied in order to be a Methodist preacher 
unite in teaching dipping for baptism during 
the days of Christ and his Apostles and for 
several hundred years afterward. In fact, 
till the Catholic Church changed it to sprinkling, 
just as that priest said. Look at these notes, and 
the books are right there to speak further for 
themselves. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


91 


“Note 1. Pope Gregory the Great, believed 
in immersion and sent St. Augustine, in charge 
of forty missionaries, to England where they 
baptized ten thousand by immersion. A. D. 
596. Fuller’s church history of Britain, Vol. 1, 
p. 97, 98, London, 1837. Green’s History of 
the English People, p. 55, New York. 

“Note 2. Bede, the father of English history, 
who wrote thirteen hundred years ago bears 
testimony to the universal practice of immer- 
sion and mentions the baptism of the North- 
umbrians by dipping. 

“Note 3. In the days of Bede, the first great 
English historian, they appointed a certain day, 
months in advance, for administering baptism, 
hence Pope Gregory wrote to the Patriarch of 
Alexandria informing him of ten thousand 
English, baptized in one day by St. Augustine 
and the forty missionaries under his control, 
A. D. 597, in the River Swale. 

Speaking from personal observation about 
A. D., 730, Bede says: ‘For he truly who is 
baptized is seen to descend into the fountain — 
he is seen to be dipped in the waters — he is seen 
to ascend from the waters; but that which 
makes the fount regenerate him can by no means 
be seen.’ 

“Note 4. Laufranc, made Archbishop of 
Canterbury by William the Conqueror, believed 
and practiced immersion. 


92 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Note 5. Cardinal Pullus, promoted to that 
office by the Pope, A. D., 1144, writes in his 
system of divinity: “Whilst the candidate 
for baptism in water is immersed the death 
of Christ is suggested; whilst immersed and 
covered with water the burial of Christ is shown 
forth; whilst he is raised from the waters the 
resurrection of Christ is proclaimed/ 

“ Note 6. The Catholic Church had authorized 
the change from immersion to sprinkling but 
the people were hundreds of years in accepting 
it to any extent. In fact, more than half the 
Christian world today are immersionists. The 
Greek Catholics dip only. Watson, Bishop of 
Lincoln, A. D., 1558, says: ‘The old and ancient 
tradition of the church hath been from the begin- 
ning to dip the child three times, etc., yet that 
is not of such necessity; but that if he be but 
once dipped in the water it is sufficient. Yea, 
and in time of great peril and necessity if the 
water be but poured on his head it will suffice/ 
Seven Sacraments, page 32. 

“Note 7. When the Presbyterian confession 
of faith was made by the Westminster conven- 
tion of preachers, twenty-four voted to retain 
the ancient custom of dipping, and twenty-five 
favored sprinkling for baptism. By one vote 
Presbyterians adopted the change made by the 
Catholic Church. Lightfoot Vol. XIII p 301, 
London edition. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


93 


“Note 8. The King of Spain convened a 
church council (Catholic) A. D. 633, which, to 
calm trouble declared in favor of immersion. 
All were agreed on immersion. Some thought 
sprinkling would do. 

“Note 9. The Great Reformer, Martin 
Luther, believed and practiced immersion. 
Luther's Works, Vol. I. p 183. St. Boniface 
introduced it into that country, A. D. 608, 
and immersion spread all over Germany.' 
Luther, as a Catholic, knew nothing else. 

“Note 10. Pope Leo the Great, A. D., 440, 
was an immersionist and ordered the custom 
throughout the ‘universal church.' In the 
Roman Catholic Catechisms given to the world 
by the Council of Trent and Pope Pius V, 
these words are used: “Immersion was long 
observed and that from the earliest times of 
the church." 

“Note 11. I quote here the exact words of 
Dr. Stanley Dean, of Westminster, London: 

‘ With the two exceptions of the Cathedral of 
Milan and the sect of the Baptists, a few drops 
of water are now the western substitute for the 
threefold plunge^into the rushing river or the 
wide baptistries of the East.' Stanley's History, 
Eastern Church, p. 117, New York, 1870. 

“Note 12. The Greek Catholic, and Eastern 
Churches, never made any change in the ancient 


94 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


manner of baptizing, hence nothing but immer- 
sion is known among them to this day.” 

Hattie returned to her uncle’s library while 
her mother read the twelve notes she had made 
as a result of recent study, and began to push 
her investigations to other musty volumes. 
“Ancient Christianity Exemplified,” by 
Lyman Coleman, D. D., many years professor 
in Lafayette College, Pa., a Presbyterian author 
of great research, was first to receive her atten- 
tion. She carried it to her mother and read 
from page 395. 

“In the primitive church, immediately sub- 
sequent to the age of the apostles immersion 
or dipping was undeniably the common mode 
of baptism. The utmost that can be said of 
sprinkling in that early period is that it was in 
cases of necessity permitted.” 

She read again on page 397 — same author 
— to substantiate her 12th note which her 
mother had just questioned: 

“ It is a great mistake to suppose that baptism 
by immersion was discontinued when infant 
baptism became generally prevalent. The 
practice of immersion continued even until the 
thirteenth or fourteenth century. Indeed it 
has never been formally abandoned, but is still 
the mode of administering infant baptism in the 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


95 


Greek Church and in several of the Eastern 
churches. ” 

“I must say I am both interested and be- 
wildered by the study of these subjects and I 
shall send in and have Dr. Dunn, our Methodist 
pastor come out and spend Saturday with us 
and help me out.” 

“Oh, child! I would not bother any more 
about them. Our preachers have studied them 
and that is sufficient. Do your duty and leave 
these questions alone.” 

“Mother, suppose I change your language a 
little. ‘ Our preachers’ can go to heaven for 
us, ‘and that is sufficient.’ How does that 
sound? I shall never depend on any man or 
woman to know the truth for me, or to believe 
the truth for me, or to practice the truth for 
me. What did you and father spend so much 
money on my college education for, if I am to 
sit down and let the preacher do my thinking?’ ’ 

“Yes, daughter, but these church questions 
are difficult and that is why we have preachers.” 

“Mother, the science of Mathematics, Astro- 
nomy, Languages — Latin, Greek, English — 
are all ‘difficult’ and that is why we have 
professors, or teachers; but are we to let them 
do our thinking, and knowing? My teacher 
in English said one never could know all about 
the English language, yet he urged us to study 


96 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


the history that we might understand all about 
it for ourselves. I've noticed this about all of 
our preachers. They want to settle all difficult 
questions in church history, and knotty ones 
in doctrines by an intelligent wave of the hand 
and ‘do your duty and these doctrines will not 
bother you.’” 

“Hattie, you talk as much like your grand- 
father Gholston as if he were here in person 
speaking.” 

“Yes, and old Massa Gholston was a Baptist 
too,” chimed ’Cinda, and he said dat even a 
nigger could understand de scriptures, da was 
so plain.” 

“Was grandfather a Baptist?” 

“Yes, and every slave he had belonged to 
the Baptist^ church. That’s how.“Cinda came 
to be one.” 

“Why haven’t you told me this before?” 

“ I hardly know. It just never came up.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me, ’Cinda?” 

“You see, chile, it was this way. Yo grand- 
father died long years ago (wiping the tears 
from her eyes) in old Massasippa, den I come 
to live wid yo ma when yos’ a little chile. Yo 
father had done gone and jined de Methodist 
and I did not want to give any ’sturbin infor- 
mation.” 

“Oh, it would not have disturbed me.” 




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TWO OLD LETTERS 


97 


“It has ’sturbed you now dat yo’s lamin’ 
some of de doctrines.” 

“Mother, how did father come to be a Metho^ 
dist?” 

“Well, about one week after we were mar- 
ried, Dr. Davis, our pastor, came and told me 
I must get my husband into the church while 
I had him so perfectly under my influence, or 
I might regret it all the remainder of my life. 
I told him Mr. Gholston was not converted — 
not a regenerated man. He said that made no 
difference that the Methodist church received 
all who desired to ‘flee the wrath to come.’ 
With this, I and Dr. D. succeeded in getting 
him in. He would not be sprinkled and Dr. D. 
was not prepared to go to the creek and baptize 
him and to this day he has never received 
baptism.” 

“Has he ever been converted?” Hattie asked. 

“I am not so certain he has, though I some- 
times hope he has.” 

“Well, I believe in a higher motive for joining 
the church than the influence of a young wife 
or a young husband, and I have no respect 
for a preacher who exerts social influence in- 
stead of gospel principles to secure members,” 
said Hattie with much feeling. “Father is an 
officer in our church now, and has been ever 
since I can remember and yet he has never been 

on 


98 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


►V*? 

Lr-Jt > 

baptized and possibly never converted. Now, 
if that isn’t looseness with a vengeance, I do not 
know what to name it. But that is Methodism. 
They simply want one to go on and say nothing. 
They all oppose any investigation. I mean to 
do my own thinking, and I would be ashamed 
of my husband, if I had one, if he were to join 
the church to please me. One should join to 
please God and then look in the New Testament 
to find the modes of procedure. The very idea 
of short-sighted men deciding on what he will 
or will not do, when God speaks plainly in his 
word.” 


CHAPTER XI. 


Dr. Dunn was on hand early Saturday morning 
to spend the day and help Miss Hattie in her 
“ troubles ” — studies. 

“Dr. Dunn, as pastor of our church and my 
teacher in religious matters, I want you to pass 
on this list of books and tell me if they are 
standard works, or are they Bapitst fabrica- 
tions?” 

John Wesley’s Works. 

John Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament. 

Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History. 

Calmet’s Works. 

Fuller’s History of Britain. 


100 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Green’s History of the English People. 

Bede’s History. 

Seven Sacraments. 

Lightfoot’s works. 

Stanley’s History Eastern Church. 

Coleman’s Ancient Christianity Exemplified.” 

“I am familiar with the list of books. They 
are all standard works and not a Baptist book 
among them. Where on earth did you ever get 
such a collection? The Baptists have no 
preachers who can write books.” 

“My uncle was a Methodist minister and at 
his death gave his library to my mother,” said 
Hattie, “and they are all here.” 

“The books are all right, I assure you.” 

“ Y ou’d better look out, Bro. Dunn. Y ou have 
an Irish theologian after you and the first thing 
you know she’ll have you in a trap,” said Capt. 
Frank Gholston, who was at home for a few 
days from his levee contract. 

“What’s up with Miss Hattie? Is she pre- 
paring to preach?” 

Before Frank could answer, she said: “No 
I hope I’ll never come down to that,” wdth a 
twdnkle in her blue eye. “But I want to ask 
you a three-fold question, viz : — 

“Did the church come wholly from God, or 
did it come by the inventions of man, or did 
God and man both have a hand in getting it up? 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


101 


That you may understand me before you answer, 
I'll say: — 

(1) If it came from God, it is divine. 

(2) If it came from man, it is human. 

(3) If it came from both, it is a mixture. ” 

“Miss Hattie, I believe the captain was right 

about your being a theologian, for your questions 
get right down to the bottom of all theology 
so that I feel a grave responsibility in an- 
swering them. 

(1) If I say it is wholly from God, you’ll 
raise some question about the Methodist church 
being organized by man — John Wesley. 

(2) If I say it is from man, you wall tell me 
that the Masons, Odd Fellows and Sons of Tem- 
perance are of the same value and same authority 
— from man. 

(3) If I say it comes from both, you’ll then 
ask what part came from God and what part 
came from man. 

Now, Miss Hattie, I’m going to give you a 
candid, honest answer knowing at the same 
time that it involves me, as a Methodist preacher, 
in great difficulties: I believe the church is 
Wholly from, God , and therefore a divine in- 
stitution. 

Please turn and read in your New Testament: 


102 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Mat. 16: 

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou 
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
my church, and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it. 

Acts 20: 

28 Take heed therefore unto your- 
selves, and to all the flock over the which 
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, 
to feed the church of God, which he hath 
purchased with his own blood. 

I Corinthians 1 : 

2 Unto the church of God which is at 
Corinth, to them that are sanctified in 
Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all 
that in every place call upon the name of 
Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and 
ours : 

I Corinthians 10: 

32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, 
nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of 
God. 

I Corinthians 1 1 : 

22 What? have ye not houses to eat 
and to drink in? or despise ye the church 
of God? 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


103 


I Corinthians 15: 

9 For I am the least of the apostles, 
that am not meet to be called an apostle, 
because I persecuted the church of God. 

I Tim. 3: 

5 (For if a man know not how to rule 
his own house, how shall he take care of 
the church of God?) 


With these scriptures before me I must believe 
in the divine origin of the church.” 

“Do our Methodist preachers generally be- 
lieve, as strongly as you, in the divine origin 
of the church?” 

“They do not emphasize the doctrine much, 
and one hardly knows what they believe on 
this point.” 

“I thought not, for I have heard them all 
my life, say more about John Wesley, ten to 
one, in connection with the origin of the church 
than about the Lord Jesus Christ, and the New 
Testament is rarely mentioned. I want to ask 
you one more question.” 

“All right, I'll answer.” 

“Do you believe the church has any right to 
change its form of government , its ordinances 
or its laws?” 


104 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


r* 

“I do not believe it has any right to change 
any of these things, but I am aware that this 
answer gets me deeper into trouble again, but 
I’ll get out later on.” 

“When did God’s church come into ex- 
istence”? 

“We Methodists believe it came into existence 
in the Garden of Eden and has slowly developed 
into what we now have.” 

“Do you mean to say slowly developed into 
the Methodist church?” 

“Not exactly that, but into all evangelical 
churches — the general church or universal.” 

“At what time did it stop developing — before, 
during, or after the days of the Savior?” 

“Miss Hattie, you have a way of putting your 
questions in the form of an argument instead 
of a simple interrogation. 

(1) If I say it was completed and stopped 
developing before the days of Christ then you 
will quote Mat 16:18 where Jesus said: ‘I will 
build my church,’ etc. 

(2) If I say during the days of Christ on the 
earth, you will say that these churches that have 
come into existence more than one thousand 
five hundred years since that time are mere 
human institutions. 

(3) If I say its laws, policy and form of 
government etc., are still developing you’ll 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


105 


answer that they have no more claim on or 
authority over the life and conduct of the 
individual than the persons have who are de- 
veloping them.” 

“ Where does the word church first occur — 
in the old or New Testament?” 

“In the New Testament where Jesus says: ‘I 
will build my church/ Mat. 16:18.” 

“Yes,” said she, “and I do not believe there 
ever was a church till the Lord Jesus came and 
started His church. We’ve no right to say 
there was unless God had said it in His Holy 
Bible and you tell me the word church does not 
even occur, in any connection, in the Old Testa- 
ment. I’ve heard our preacher say so much 
about the Edenic church, Abrahamic church 
and the Mosaic church that I thought the Old 
Testament was full of talk about the church and 
now you tell me that the simple word church 
does not occur once in the Bible and not in the 
New Testament till our Lord employed it to 
describe the organization he set up in the world.” 

“Miss Hattie, we Methodists believe that 
a congregation of people meeting to worship 
God is a church. We are liberal, you see.” 

“What right have 'we Methodists’ to call a 
cro.wd of worshippers a church when God names 
them something else or fails to give them any 
name at all?” 


106 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


John the Baptist preached, baptized and got 
a big crowd of worshippers to meeting regularly 
but he was careful not to call it a church. Jesus 
our Lord did not call his congregation of worship- 
pers a church until he had properly organized it 
and appointed its officers and instituted its ordi- 
nances. See Luke 6: 

13 H And when it was day, he called 
unto him his disciples: and of them he 
chose, twelve, whom also he named 
apostles: 

These were the first officers appointed in 
that organization called a church in the Holy 
Scriptures. See I Corinthians 12: 

27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and 
members in particular: 

28 And God hath set some in the church, 
first apostles, secondarily prophets, 
thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then 
gifts of healings, helps, governments, 
diversities of tongues. 

By studying the time, I find that Jesus made 
these appointments and organized his church 
the day he preached the 1 sermon on the Mount/ 
Mat. 5th chapter etc., and there was a big crowd 
present from which he selected the members 
of his church. Luke 6: 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


107 


13 11 And when it was day, he called 
unto him his disciples: and of them he 
chose twelve, whom also he named 
apostles ; 

14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) 
and Andrew his brother, James and John, 
Philip and Bartholomew, 

15 Matthew and Thomas, James the 
son of Alpheaus, and Simon called 
Zelotes, 

16 And Judas, the brother of James, 
and Judas Is-cariot, which also was the 
traitor. 

17 II And he came down with them, 
and stood in the plain, and the company 
of his disciples and a great multitude 
of people out of all Judea and Jerusa- 
lem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and 
Sidon, which came to hear him and to be 
healed of their diseases; 

18 And they that were vexed with 

unclean spirits: and they were healed. 

19 And the whole multitude sought 

to touch him; for there went virtue out 
of him, and healed them all. 

20 H And he lifted up his eyes on his 
disciples and said, Blessed be ye poor; 
for yours is the kingdom of God. 

21 Blessed are ye that hunger now; 
for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye 
that weep now; for ye shall laugh. 

22 Blessed are ye, when men shall 

hate you, and when they shall separate 
you from their company, and shall 

reproach you, and cast out your name 


108 


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as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. 

23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap 
for joy: for, behold, your reward is great 
in heaven: for in the like manner did 
their fathers unto the prophets. 

Luke is writing up here the same meeting 
that Matthew records in the 5th, 6th, and 7th 
chapters of his Gospel, only Matthew puts the 
stress on the sermon, while Luke emphasizes 
the organization. Jesus finished, it. — John 17: 

4 I have glorified thee on the earth: 

I have finished the work which thou gavest 
me to do. 

He did not leave any part of it to be developed 
and completed by any man or set of men. 
When it was completed it suited Him for, 
Ephesians 5: 

25 Christ also loved the church, and 
gave himself for it; 

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse 
it with the washing of water by the word. 

27 That he might present it to himself 
a glorious church, not having spot, or 
wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it 
should be holy and without blemish. 

28 So ought men to love their wives 
as their own bodies. He that loveth his 
wife loveth himself. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


109 


29 For no man ever yet hated his own 
flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, 
even as the Lord the church: 

30 For we are members of his body, 
of his flesh, and of his bones. 

31 For this cause shall a man leave his 
father and mother, and shall be joined 
unto his wife, and they two shall be one 
flesh. 

32 This is a great mystery: but I speak 
concerning Christ and the church. 

Luke was the church clerk, and kept the 
records, list of members, etc. This accounts 
for his writing the Acts of the Apostles. 

Acts I. 

13 And when they were come in, they 
went up into an upper room where abode 
both Peter, and James, and John and 
Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholo- 
mew, and Matthew, James the son of 
Alphaeus and Simon Zelotes, and Judas 
the brother of James. 

14 These all continued with one accord 
in prayer and supplication, with the 
women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, 
and with his brethren. 

And in those days Peter stood up in 
the midst of the disciples, and said (the 
number of names together were about an 
hundred and twenty.) 

In the minute he made of that meeting he 
mentions the names of twelve persons present 


110 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


out of the oneDiundred and twenty in the 
assembly. This was church work. ’ ’ 

Miss Hattie had become enthused while pre- 
senting the above scriptural argument and stood 
before them with Bible in hand. 

“Captain Frank, I think Miss Hattie is 
coming ‘down’ right fast and she will soon be 
low enough to begin preaching,” said Mr. Dunn 
by way of retort for what she said at the outset. 

“That’s all right, about my preaching, but 
I mean to study this question of church making 
to the bottom and if I find that man has a right 
to found a church I shall repudiate the whole 
business as a great overgrown farce — a human 
play thing.” 

“I’ll tell you, parson,” said Frank, “that old 
priest who came here to ticket Jimmie through 
to Heaven and check his baggage for him got 
Hat. all in a stew, and she has read day and 
night since. She gave up her position in the 
school for nothing else but to study Uncle 
Morris’ old church library that’s been out of 
date twenty years.” 

“Frank, it’s not your ‘put in.’ I have one 
more conclusion I wish Dr. Dunn to correct if 
it is incorrect, and then I’m done.” 

“Your ‘conclusions,’ Miss Hattie, are so care- 
fully drawn that they are hard to manage 


two’ old~letters 111 


unless one can just ‘tip his hat' in graceful 
agreement with them.” 

“To my mind the form of government is the 
main thing about a church or a nation,” she 
began. “Our state government makes us what 
we are, as a state.” 

“(1) A GOVERNMENT MAY BE TOO STRONG — 

too much centralized, and trespass on the rights 
of those to be governed in church or state. 

(2) A GOVERNMENT, ON THE OTHER HAND, 
may be too weak — not enough centralization, 
and fail to protect the rights of those to be 
governed. On this account our Lord did not 
leave the form of government for his church, 
to be invented by men; for if those who are to 
govern invent it they will make it too strong; 
give themselves too much power. If those 
who are to be governed invent the government 
they will make it too weak — too much gener- 
alization.” 

“If you have instances in mind of these two 
propositions will you kindly mention them that 
I may get fully into your idea; for I confess 
these are very important points you are getting 
at now;” said Dr. Dunn, who by this time was 
thoroughly astonished at the way she had gone 
into the subject. 

“I might get better ones by a moment's 
reflection but I will say: 


112 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


(1) Our Methodist form of government is an 
instance where those who were to rule made the 
government and made it too strong. Our 
Bishops are ecclesiastical despots. Every part 
of our book of discipline may be changed but 
that which relates to the episcopacy and gives 
the Bishop unlimited power. That is not within 
the power of any conference. 

(2) The Christian church (Campbellites) 
furnishes an example of a government that is 
too weak — not enough centralized. Nothing 
is hedged in by governmental regulations 
among them and every man can do official 
work if he chooses. There is nothing to unite 
with when one joins them, and no well-defined 
organization from which one is excluded if he 
proves unfaithful.” 

“Miss Hattie, you have this subject so well 
in hand, please give us an example of one that 
is exactly right.” 

“The church at Jerusalem was the organi- 
zation Jesus formed and it had a membership 
of 120 men and women all of whom took part 
in the (1) worship and in the (2) business. 
Peter was pastor till he went out on his mission 
work, and James was elected by the church as 
pastor. At the first meeting after our Lord 
ascended they had a business session, at the 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


113 


close of the period for worship, and went into 
the election of an apostle. Acts 2: 


14 These all continued with one accord 
in prayer and supplication, with the 
women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, 
and with his brethren. 

15 H And in those days Peter stood up 
in the midst of the disciples, and said, 
(the number of names together were 
about an hundred and twenty.) 

***** 

21 Wherefore of these men which have 
companied with us all the time that the 
Lord Jesus went in and out among us. 

22 Beginning from the baptism of John, 
unto that same day that he was taken 
up from us, must one be ordained to be 
a witness with us of his resurrection. 

23 And they appointed two, Joseph 
called Barsabas, who was surnamed 
Justus, and Matthias. 

24 And they prayed, and said, Thou 
Lord, which knowest the hearts of all 
men, shew whether of these two thou 
hast chosen. 

25 That he may take part of this 
ministry and apostleship, from which 
Judas by transgression fell, that he might 
go to his own place. 

26 And they gave forth their lots; 
and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he 
was numbered with the eleven apostles. 


( 8 ) 


114 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


A majority of the members present voted 
for Matthias and he was declared elected. In 
this church the ruling power was located in 
the ballots of its members, and this fact discloses 
a great and important qualification for member- 
ship in the church, viz: — age and discretion 
enough to vote on questions before the church 
— adult membership. 

The Episcopal form of church government 
was not invented until about 325 years after 
Christ, and then by men who wanted to hold 
the offices they created.” 

From that time Till the present, men have 
sought to create offices in the church contrary 
to the teachings of Scripture, in order to furnish 
themselves a place and salary. 

“Have we any churches governed that way 
now?” 

“Yes, I have been reading one of my grand- 
father ’s old books and find that the Baptists 
are governed exactly that way — the book is 
called ‘ Iron Wheel,’ and they use the New 
Testament in the government and management 
of their church just where we use our book 
of laws and discipline.” 

“Miss Hattie, we use the New Testament 
just the same as the Baptists and with the same 
authority.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


115 


“Bro. Dunn, when you Baptized those folks 
last Sunday what book did you read from?” 

“Our book of discipline .” 

“When you administered the Lord's supper, 
what book did you read from?” 

“Our discipline.” 

“When you received those persons into 
church, what book did you read from?” 

“Our discipline.” 

“When you had that little church trial what 
book did you use?” 

“Our book of discipline .” 

“A Baptist always uses the New Testament; 
a Methodist has no use for a Testament in his 
official acts .” 

“We get them in our church, Miss Hattie, 
all the same, and that is the important part.” 

“I don't know whether we get them in or 
hung on, for membership in a Methodist church 
is. an uncertain quantity. Take father for ex- 
ample. He has been steward, trustee, and 
member of the official board and never has been 
baptized.” 

“ Do you mean to say Bro. Gholston has never 
been baptized? I'll attend to it at once.” 

“That's what I say. He joined 30 years ago 
and more, but wmuld not be sprinkled and the 
preacher was not prepared to baptize him and 
the matter has been neglected.” 


116 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Mr. Dunn said no more about baptizing Mr. 
Gholston when he found he would not be sprin- 
kled. Methodist preachers believe in immersion 
loudly with their mouths but manage never to 
do much of it. Self respect and consistency should 
lead them to oppose it openly. The dinner 
announcement closed the investigation greatly 
to Mr. D.’s relief. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


117 


CHAPTER XII. 

When George went aboard the boat Captain 
Clank took in the entire situation from his old 
hat, old clothes, and old shoes, and met him 
with a hearty “hello, old boy! Fm glad to see 
you!” that made him feel once more that the 
sunshine of loving fellowship and tender sym- 
pathy was not wholly excluded from human 
nature by the black clouds of crime and hard 
heartedness. 

Anticipating his penniless condition, the 
captain said : 

“Make yourself at home Captain Carter, and 
it shall not cost you one cent to go clear to the 
end_of_our trip with us.” 


118 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“I thank you very much, Captain Clank, 
and I shall try to show my appreciation for 
your kindness, for it is my purpose to go to the 
end of your run.” 

Captain Clank was a shrewd man and under- 
stood human nature like an open book. He 
knew George personally and knew that so 
perfect a gentleman as he could not feel com- 
fortable while “ dead-heading ” his way on the 
boat and especially at the table, and therefore 
said, as the boat got well under way: 

“ George, I'm especially glad to have you 
aboard on this trip for our clerk, Mr. Livingston, 
is new in the business and you can get him 
straightened out before we get to Cincinnati, 
and I’ll feel no anxiety about the business with 
you in the office. Come and I’ll introduce you 
to him. Mr. Livingston, I want to give you 
a regular ‘steam-boat knock-down’ to my old 
friend, Capt. George Carter, who formerly 
clerked for us. He will help you on our way up, 
with the bills and other work of the office.” 

Livingston made the mistake that is common 
to society in these latter days, viz. — that of 
judging a man by his clothes, and said to him- 
self: 

“I don’t need the help of that tramp.” 

But when they began to check up bills, 
George could do four to his one. The other 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


119 


work of the office was done by him with the same 
readiness and dispatch, so that about four days 
work for Livingston was finished in a little more 
than a half day. 

When Captain Clank came around and found 
the work all up and the boys, as he called them, 
idle, he said : 

“Now George, I have one more job for you 
and then your time is all your own till we get 
to Cincinnati.” 

“All right, Captain, what is it?” 

“I want you to beat old Crigley, the bar 
tender, three games of seven up out of five for 
our usual boat stake. Fll furnish the ‘chink.’ ” 

“You’ll have to excuse me, Captain. I never 
expect to play another game and I never intend 
to gamble on anything hereafter. Do you 
remember the slight-of-hand man who got me 
just before I left the boat?” 

“Yes, but haven’t you quit grieving over 
that five dollars yet?” 

“I have never cared for the money, but I 
have thought often of the pain it would give 
my mother to know that her boy had fallen 
low enough to gamble with a slight-of-hand 
tramp, after she and my father had denied 
themselves many of the comforts of life to 
educate me in a Christian college.” 


120 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Yes, but what are you to do with all 
your time on this long trip?” 

“Til find use for it. When I was sick in New 
Orleans, Rev. Mr. Seymour gave me a Testament 
and I mean to memorize the sermon on the 
mount’ this trip, and” 

“Oh yes\ That’s the big sermon preached 
by Henry Ward Beecher,” interrupted Cap- 
tain Clank. 

At this George smiled — laughed rather — in 
spite of his serious feelings a moment before, 
but before he could explain, Mr. Livingston, 
the clerk, (disposed to be very pert) broke in: 

“ Oh, you’re off, Captian, on your man. That 
is one of Mr. Spurgeon’s big sermons. I guess 
Mr. Carter aims to go to preaching when he 
gets back to Pennsylvania.” 

George made him feel the look he gave him 
and said: 

“Preach or no preach, I do not think it 
necessary to the accomplishment even of a 
steam-boat clerk to be as ignorant as a Hottentot 
about books and preachers.” 

The boat made many stops to take on tobacco 
and other freight, so that the trip was a long 
and tedious one, but all this pleased George, for 
he dreaded the very thing he most desired — 
leaving home. This is the peculiar effect of sin. 

While taking on a big lot of tobacco at Padu- 
cah, Ky., Mr. Gardner, a highly cultivated 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


121 


Baptist preacher and friend of Captain Clank, 
came aboard to go as far as Louisville. This 
proved to be Rev. W. W. Gardner of Kentucky, 
a man who rarely ever made a mistake in his 
judgment of men. He recognized in George 
Carter a high degree of culture combined with 
honor and soiled manhood, and at once became 
interested in him. When he found him studying 
the New Testament, the doctor became more 
concerned about him and they were companions 
almost at once. 

George put many questions to Dr. Gardner 
and among them the following: 

“Why do the Baptists not take the Lord’s 
supper with the Methodists?” 

“I will first explain and then give one verse 
of scripture that will settle that question forever. 
The Methodists are just as good people as the 
Baptists, and for sake of argument I’ll say much 
better; but they have a law of their own make 
in the ‘ Discipline’ that admits to their member- 
ship, persons of any kind of moral character 
who simply desire to ‘flee the wrath to come’ 
and that too, without any profession of faith 
in Christ. 

Nov/ if you will take that Testament and turn 
to I Corinthians 5:11, you will find that God 
forbids his church, in plain English, to eat with 
the very clp,ss of persons that Methodists, by 


122 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


a law oi their own make, invite to the Lord’s 
supper in their organization. I Corinthians 5: 

11 “But now I have written unto you 
not to keep company, if any man that 
is called a brother be a fornicator, or 
covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or 
drunkard, or an extortioner; with such 
an one no not to eat.” 

“I read that,” said George, “but I thought 
it meant a common social meal at home.” 

“If we take that view,” said Mr. Gardner, 
“it makes it stronger than ever, for certainly 
they would not be invited to the communion 
together, when God forbade them to eat a social 
meal at the same table.” 

“I see your point, and it settles the question. 
That verse does the work. It could not have 
been a common meal, however, for in that event 
most of the families would have been compelled 
to set two tables — one for those who were Chris- 
tians and the other for the wicked persons who 
might chance to belong to the household. 

Further, Jesus ate common social meals with 
‘ publicans and sinners,’ but when he came to 
the sacred ordinance he was close about it. 
Luke 5: 


29 And Levi made him a great feast 
in his own house; and there was a great 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


123 


company of publicans and of others 
that sat down with them. 

30 But their scribes and Pharisees 
murmured against his disciples, saying, 

Why do ye eat and drink with publicans 
and sinners? 

This shows that he made no distinction when 
at a social meal. 

There are many arguments and good ones 
but that one verse simply settles the question 
for all those who accept God’s word as authority 
for it forbids mixed communion in so many 
words — ('no not to eat.’) I said a little while 
ago Jesus was close when he came to the sacred 
ordinance. He did not invite his mother. He 
did not invite Joseph, who furnished him a tomb 
a day later. Jesus was acting on principle and 
not on sentiment. He was a 'close commu- 
nionist.’ Judas took the supper because he 
was a member of 'the body’ and not because 
he was good. 

Joseph was good but was not invited because 
he was not a member of the body. Please read 
these: Luke 22:” 

14 And when the hour was come, he 
sat down, and the twelve apostles with 
him. 

15 And he said unto them, With desire 
I have desired to eat this passover with 
you before I suffer: 


124 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


16 For I say unto you, I will not any 
more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in 
the kingdom of God. 

17 And he took the cup, and gave 
thanks, and said, Take this, and divide 
it among yourselves : 

18 For I say unto you, I will not drink 
of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom 
of God shall come. 

19 And he took bread, and gave 
thanks, and broke it and gave unto them 
saying, This is my body which is given 
for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

20 Likewise also the cup after supper 
saying, This cup is the new testament in 
my blood, which is shed for you. 

“You need not spend any more time on that. 
One verse settles it, when you find one like that 
— one that says it in so many words. Where 
did you say it was ! I want to read it again?” 

Mr. Carter read the entire chapter, and 
you will find that the church is not to commune 
with its own members when they are out of 
order. I do not want to mislead you by quoting 
that one (11) verse.” 

I Corinthians 5 : 

It is reported commonly that there is 
fornication among you, and such for- 
nication as is not so much as named 
among the Gentiles, that one should have 
his father’s wife. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


125 


2 And ye are puffed up, and have not 
rather mourned, that he that hath done 
this deed might be taken away from 
among you. 

3 For I verily, as absent in body, but 
present in spirit, have judged already, 
as though I were present, concerning him 
that hath done this deed, 

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

when ye are gathered together and my * 

spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

5 To deliver such an one unto Satan 
for the destruction of the • flesh, that 
the spirit may be saved in the day of our 
Lord Jesus. 

6 Your glorying is not good. Know 
ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the 
whole lump? 

7 Purge out therefore the old leaven 
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are 
unleavened. For even Christ our passover 
is sacrificed for us. 

8 Therefore let us keep the feast not 
with old leaven, neither with the leaven 
of malice and wickedness; but with un- 
leavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to 
company with fornicators. 

10 Yet not altogether with the forni- 
cators of this world, or with the covetous, 
or extortioners, or with idolaters; for them 
must ye needs go out of the world. 

1 1 But now I have written unto you not 
to keep company, if any man that is 


126 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


called a brother be a fornicator, or cove- 
tous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drun- 
kard, or an extortioner; with such an one 
no not to eat. 

12 For what have I to do to judge them 
also that are without? do not ye judge 
them that are within? 

13 But them that are without God judg- 
eth. Therefore put away from among 
yourselves that wicked person. 

“If it be urged that Methodists are not wicked 
I gladly grant it. They are good, but they have 
a law that they enacted themselves by which 
this very class of persons mentioned in this 
chapter, is admitted to membership in their 
church, and to the Lord’s table if they are not 
members of any church, and God says to us, 
who have the New Testament only as our book 
of laws: ‘With such an one no not to eat.’ ” 

“Mr. Gardner, that chapter and especially 
that eleventh verse is enough. Come, we will 
go to dinner.” 

“Here, put this little leaflet in your book 
before we go. It may help you. Baptists be- 
lieve in this order:” 

1. Conversion — one must be saved. 

2. Membership — be identified with his people. 
— Church. 

3. Communion — observe the ordinance. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


127 


Repentance 

Matthew 3 : 2. Matthew 4 : 17. Acts 2 : 38. 
Acts 3 : 19. 


Confession 

Matthew 10 : 32 Luke 12 : 8. Romans 10 : 9. 


Conversion 

Acts 2 : 41. Acts 4 : 4. Acts 8 : 12. Acts 13 : 43. 


Sin is taken away 

2 Corinthians 5 : 21. 1 John 1 : 9. Isaiah 1 : 18. 
Psalm 103 : 12. 


i know I am saved 


John 5 : 24. 


Romans 8:1. 

I John 5 : 1-3. 


I John 3 : 14. 


128 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


The Joy of God. 

I thank Thee, too, that Thou hast made 
Joy to abound; 

So many gentle thoughts and deeds 
Circling us round, 

That in the darkest spot of earth 
Some love is found. 

I thank Thee more that all our joy 
Is touched with pain; 

That shadows fall on brightest hours. 
That thorns remain; 

So that earth’s bliss may be our guide, 
And not our chain. 

For Thou, Who lcnowest, Lord, how soon 
Our weak heart clings, 

Hast given us joys tender and true, 

But all with wings — 

So that we see, gleaming on high, 

Divine things. 

— A. Proctor. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

When George arrived in Cincinnati, he hurried 
to the post office, to see the result of the letter 
to his father, and there he found one awaiting 
his call, containing a check and reading as follows: 

My dear boy: — Our hearts are too full of joy 
at hearing from you to write a letter. Do not 
mention your misfortunes; do not mention your 
mistakes; simply come to us and all will be well. 
Enclosed find check for amount mentioned and 
feel, my boy, that this is the privilege of my life. 

W. Jennings Carter. 

When George went to get the money from 
the bank they scrutinized his old clothes and 
0 ) 


130 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


required unusual evidence that he was the 
proper person. He had to go to the boat and 
get Captain Clank to identify him. Seeing that 
his honesty was questioned hurt him, but he 
said: “It's just. I brought it all on myself. 
Yes, it ‘biteth like a serpent and stingeth like 
an adder/ and I had just as well make up my 
mind to endure the excruciating pain of that 
awful bite till I get back on to the plane of my 
original manhood from which I have so fallen. 
Nothing but humiliation awaits me now till 
I have retraced my steps and established myself 
in society once more.” With these thoughts 
writhing and squirming in his soul like a nest of 
serpents hissing and spitting venom in all direc- 
tions, he bade Captain Clank good-bye and 
started in haste to catch the train. 

His humiliation was not a whit behind his 
anticipations, for he had scarcely entered the car 
when he saw his old friend Lieut. Ross, well 
dressed, comfortably seated, reading the latest 
novel. He trembled with fear and shame at 
the thought of being recognized but this was 
all needless for his rags and general appearance 
were a complete disguise to those who had 
known him in better days. Passing forward, 
he sought a seat in a second-class car and sat 
alone “with his thoughts” in silence. His 
whole life passed before his mind's eye in one 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


131 


panorama. As lie gazed at one part of the pic- 
ture, he was absorbed to the exclusion of every 
other memory in his existence and for a moment 
laughed. As the panorama moved on, his early 
youth and young manhood dissolved out of the 
picture leaving an expression of woe on his face 
that seemed to call on the ocean to gather all 
of its waves into one groan and utter it — “long, 
loud, deep, piercing, dolorous, immense . ” As 
the tears came to his relief, he began to under- 
stand as never before those lines of Pollok: 

* * * * “Look back, and one 

Behold, who would not give her tears for all 
The smiles that dance about the cheek of Mirth.” 

When the unseen fingers of memory turned 
to view the pages of his recent dark experiences, 
he became angry at his own thoughts, disgusted 
with life, and found himself unconsciously 
fingering at the window to raise it and jump 
through while the train was in motion and there 
put an end to his life which had been so full of 
disappointment. 

A blessed Providence it was that led him to 
memorize the “Sermon on the Mount ” when 
he was on board the boat, for now it came to 
him as the sheet-anchor of his life, and he began 
to recite it to himself as he gazed aimlessly 
from the window. No one but he could have 


132 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


written what appears later in this work on the 

“ WONDERS OF THE SOUL.” 

The very fact that he had to hide away in his 
rags from those who once respected him and 
appreciated his companionship was enough 
to crush his very soul as he sat there in a dark 
corner of a second class car with rough men 
chewing, smoking, swearing all around. He 
was in torment. 

When God assigns all wickedness, and wicked 
people, to one place in this universe, where each 
will feel absolutely alone on account of the sel- 
fishness and indifference of all others, and sepa- 
rates all good from that place, there you find 
hell. George was in it for the time. The religion 
of our Savior is specifically for this life, and 
the man or woman who disregards its claims 
w T ill soon get a foretaste of what eternal death 
will be. 

George awoke from his painful reverie at the 
announcement of the station for which he was 
ticketed and the horrid nightmare, as it were, 
that had haunted his soul for hours past, now 
gave place to an awful ordeal — meeting the 
home folks — which under other circumstances 
w r ould have been an indescribable joy. 

It is the office of sin to transform pleasureable 
experiences into cups of burning gall, for “ what- 
soever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


133 


Fortunately the train arrived a little late, 
10:30, and but few people were there, so he 
dropped off on the side of the car away from 
the depot and walked behind an old warehouse 
till the train and people were gone ; then he made 
up a little speech to recite when he got home, 
and started in that direction. It was eleven 
‘o'clock by this time and the full moon had risen 
high in the heavens revealing the frosted leaves 
and faded flowers, fit emblems of his blasted 
hopes and aspirations. A bright lamp could 
be seen here and there shining through the 
windows and the step of a belated business 
man could be heard on the sidewalk. To avoid 
meeting anyone whom he might know, he con- 
cluded to go around through the back lots and 
make his way home unobserved; but before 
he was aware he found himself in ragweeds up 
to his chin all dripping with dew and before he 
could reach the street he had added to his ragged 
clothes a bedrabbled appearance that hardly 
admits of description. 

Everything that under other circumstances 
would have furnished pleasure now gave him 
intense pain. Every step brought new torture 
to his soul. As he passed Mrs. Simpson's, he 
saw in the corner of the “ spring lot,'' as they 
called it, the remains of an old swing on a wide- 
spreading oak in the shade of which he had 


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played in his childhood. Laura Simpson, his 
sister and he used to swing on that very old 
wooden swing when he was a youth, joyous and 
happy, but “Oh wretched man that I am” 
properly describes him now. A few steps 
further and the depressing stillness was broken 
by the barking of their old family watch dog 
and the familiar tinkle of his father’s sheep bell 
as the flock hunted here and there for the few 
remaining sprigs of green grass. He could 
endure the strain no longer without some sort 
of relief, so he threw his old satchel down in 
the shadow of the tree which had been used 
since he was a child, as a gate post at the en- 
trance to the sheep pasture, fell upon it and 
poured out his feelings in the bitterest anguish, 
giving vent to the conflicting emotions accumu- 
lating in his breast at every step towards that 
desirable, yet awful moment when he must 
meet the loved ones. He arose and walked 
slowly to the corner of the garden where he 
stopped a moment in the shade of the hedge 
bushes to further prepare his mind for the meet- 
ing, but here as else where, everything reminded 
him of better days and seemed to mock at his 
folly. 

The old barn, neglected since the erection of 
the new, stood across the lane from the garden. 
The snows of the previous winter had broken 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


135 


in the roof; the sheds were dilapidated; tall 
weeds had grown up around it and the unseen 
hand of neglect had spread the mantle of ruin 
over all. The gentle rays of the full moon 
crept in through the rubbish making visible 
the old ox yoke, harrow, cane mill, and worn 
out plows which had given place to new ones; 
and everything there had memories of past 
pleasure clustering about it, but now they 
constitute a “thorn in the side,” of his present 
experience as his whole life seems to crowd into 
the sighs and groans of the moment. 

Passing to the front gate he saw a light in 
his mother’s room (for they remained up every 
night till after train time in hope of his coming) 
and began to adjust his old clothes for that 
final climax of all that was trying on proud man- 
hood. While he stood there trimming some 
rags from his tattered coat sleeve, the dog set 
up a furious barking which called his father to 
the door, thus relieving him of the painful task 
of hailing from the gate, for even the dog could 
not recognize him in his rags and he was afraid 
to enter the home of his childhood without pro- 
tection against the once friendly old Towser. 
He forgot all that nice little speech he had stud- 
ied out with which to introduce himself and 
after a moment’s struggle said : 

“Do you suppose that fool dog would bite me?” 


136 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


His voice was so changed and the fact that 
he stood at the gate hesitating to enter, and 
it being so long after the train had come and 
gone, misled Mr. Carter, and not thinking it 
was his dear boy, he cooly replied: 

“I don’t know. That depends upon whom 
you are.” 

“My name was George Carter when I left 
here, but I have so disgraced it I can hardly 
ask protection in the home where I obtained 
it as an honorable heritage.” 

Before he had finished the above his father 
was at his side with every evidence of paternal 
love and forgiveness, welcomed him in and led 
him up the broad walk to the front door. As 
he entered the magnificent hall he felt so 
ashamed of his old satchel filled with ragged 
clothes, that he set it down behind the hat rack 
and entered his mother’s room empty handed. 
His mother and sister embraced him and wept 
over him but made as if, they did not observe 
his ragged and bedrabbled appearance. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


The hallowed influence of home, good 
clothes and a contented mind made a new man 
out of George in less than a week so that he 
appeared at church the following Sunday to 
begin life all over again. He joined a class in 
the Sunday school and showed such knowledge 
and ready use of scripture that all were sur- 
prised, for he had an acquisitive mind and a 
retentive memory, both of which he had em- 
ployed constantly of late to keep from dwelling 
on his misfortunes. 

Dr. Walker, the pastor, had gotten an inkling 
that there was a piece of peculiar history in 
the young man’s life, and called at the Carter 
residence Monday forenoon as much out of 


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curiosity as a desire to do good, but as George 
had gone to work with his father, who had 
established a large business in farming imple- 
ments in the town, the pastor failed to see him, 
and by pressing invitation remained to dinner 
so as to have a talk with the young man and 
“rope him in.” 

“Is your son a member of the church?” said 
Mr. Walker. 

“No, I'm sorry to say he is not.” 

“Well, sister Carter, now is our time to get 
him in while everything seems new to him 
at home.” 

“Yes, but my son does not profess to be a 
converted man at all.” , 

“That makes no difference; we have a law 
in our discipline by which we take them in 
without regeneration. Besides, if you wait 
for him to be converted he is liable to go off and 
join some other denomination.” 

“Mr. Walker, I would rather see George 
join any denomination a converted man, than 
to get him into the Methodist church unsaved.” 

“Was he baptized in infancy?” 

“No. We had three very intelligent pastors 
and each one gave Mr. Carter a different reason for 
sprinkling children. Then he asked what the 
^New Testament said about it, and upon being 
told that it was not spoken of at all in the 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


139 


scriptures, he declared that our baby boy should 
not be sprinkled. Gur other children were 
sprinkled.” 

“Don’t you think if you had done your duty 
by him while an infant, all this trouble I under- 
stand you’ve had, would have been avoided?” 

Mrs. Carter showed a little resentment at 
this imputation and said : 

“I will answer your question by asking 
you two : 

(1) “Did you have your son Willie sprinkled? 

“Yes, I’ve had all my children baptized while 

infants, and dedicated to God. ’ 

(2) “Where is Willie? I’d ask you some 
questions about your other boys and your 
daughter but I have more respect for your 
feelings than you had for mine.” 

This was a terrible blow, for Wm. Walker 
Jr., was employed, because of his fitness for 
the place, as bar tender and overseer of an 
awful dirty gambling “den,” and the other 
boys were worthless. However, this war of 
words was cut short by the coming of George 
and his father to dinner, and in a few moments 
all were seated at the table engaged in a more 
pleasant conversation and a more pleasant 
exercise — eating. 

For once the preacher felt like he had been 
completely beaten and he began to study some 


140 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


plan to get even. Accordingly, dinner being 
over, he walked down to the warehouse where 
George was checking out a carload of agricul- 
tural implements and watched his opportunity 
to talk with him about joining the church, 
determined to get him in before he had time to 
properly compose himself under the new en- 
vironments. At the first opportunity, he pre- 
sented the matter, sawing on the old string 
about how much he (George) loved his mother 
and how she loved him — and urged him to join 
at once. Then he “soft-soaped” him a little, 
telling him how much his splendid talents and 
culture were needed in the church and what a 
useful man he would be in official positions. 
When he was through George told him he was 
interested and hoped to join the church some 
time but certainly never from any of the mo- 
tives he had mentioned. “Of course, I love my 
mother and she loves me, but that would be a 
very unworthy motive for joining the church 
and he drew out the Testament Dr. Seymour 
had given him while sick in New Orleans, and 
read, Mat. 10: 

37 He that loveth father or mother 
more than me is not worthy of me; and 
he that loveth son or daughter more than 
me is not worthy of me. 

38 And he that taketh not his cross 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


141 


and followeth after me, is not worthy of 
me. 

“The other two motives you mention for 
my joining the church, viz., — my talents, and 
qualifications for official positions, are so 
totally unworthy as not to need a reply,” 
said George with emphasis. 

“I have two reasons, Dr. Walker, that would, 
either of them, prevent me from joining the 
church : 

(1) I am not a converted man. 

(2) I am not sure I believe like the Metho- 
dist. In fact, I’m sure I do not on some points.” 

“Oh well, the Methodist Church is broad in 
its notion of membership and will take you in 
all right just as you are.” 

“That’s one of the very things I object to. 
It is so ‘ broad’ that membership in it don’t 
stand for anything. When you tell me that a 
man is a Methodist I can form no idea from that, 
what he believes and what he is.” 

“Methodism stands for faith in God and a 
pious life, and these are the all-important 
things,” said the preacher. 

“Now, Dr. Walker, don’t you see that mem- 
bership in your church don’t mean faith and 
piety, for you have just urged me to join 
knowing that I have neither. I do not believe 
any man ought to join the church until he 


142 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


becomes a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ — 
a child of God. Lm a Baptist that far.”* 

“Are not the Methodists good, pious, faithful 
people?” 

“Certainly. I could never think otherwise 
after witnessing the life of my parents. Of 
course they are pious, but they could be mem- 
bers in a Methodist Church just as well if they 
were not, so that membership in your church, 
does not signify piety at all, and it does not 
signify any particular belief, for you boast 
that your church is ‘broad’ enough to take 
people of any and all religious opinions.” 

“When you tell me a certain man is a member 
of the Baptist Church, I at once know certain 
things about him. 

1. He believes in the power of the local 
organization to govern its own affairs. 

2. He believes in salvation before member- 
ship and that baptism comes right between 
salvation and membership. 

3. He believes that all ecclesiastical power 
is in the hands of the membership and not in 
the hands of the ministers or higher court. 
— There is no higher court. 

4. He believes in one act for baptism (not 
three) and will not practice any other to get 
a member. 

*At that time the Methodists took them in on six months’ 
probation. Northern Methodists do so yet. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


143 


5. He believes that the Lord's supper is a 
church ordinance and should be restricted to 
baptized believers — church members. His mem- 
bership stands for all this and more. Methodists 
would take him if he believed all of this, any 
part of it, or none at all, and they boast of this 
very broadness that makes membership mean 
nothing." 

“Captain Carter, how came you so well 
posted on these doctrines? I thought you 
had been otherwise engaged than studying 
church questions for nearly two years, at 
least." 

“A young Baptist preacher by the name of 
Seymour in New Orleans, when I was sick, 
gave me the Testament from which I read a 
little recently, and two small tracts. These 
gave me a start and I'm pushing the investiga- 
tion on, and I wish to ask you a question: 

Out of what organization did the Methodist 
Church come?" 

“Out of the Church of England, of course." 

“What organization did the Church of Eng- 
land (Episcopal) come out of?" 

“The Roman Catholic." 

“Where did the Roman Catholic Church 
come from?" 

“Now you have reached a more difficult 
question, or, rather, one requiring a more 


144 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


elaborate answer. I see you have been using 
that Testament lately. Please turn and read/' 
Acts 20 : 28-30. 

28 H Take heed therefore unto your- 
selves, and to all the flock, over the which 
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, 
to feed the church of God, which he hath 
purchased with his own blood. 

29 For I know this, that after my de- 
parting shall grievous wolves enter in 
among you, not sparing the flock. 

30 Also of your own selves shall men 
arise, speaking preverse things, to draw 
away disciples after them. 

“That’s good. I see a point in that I had not 
discovered before,” said George. 

“Before I begin to explain where and how 
the Catholic Church came about, turn and 
read:” I Tim. 3: 

1 Now the Spirit speakcth expressly, 
that in the latter time3 some shall depart 
from the faith, giving heed to seducing 
spirits, and doctrines of devils; 

2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having 
their conscience seared with a hot iron; 

3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding 
to abstain from meats, which God hath 
created to be received with Thanksgiving 
of them which believe and know the truth. 


II Tim. 4: 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


145 


3 I charge thee therefore before God 
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall 
judge the quick and the dead at his ap- 
pearing and his kingdom; 

2 Preach the word; be instant in 
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, 
exhort with all longsuffering and doc- 
trine. 

3 For the time will come when they 
will not endure sound doctrine; but after 
their own lusts shall they heap to them- 
selves teachers, having itching ears; 

4 And they shall turn away their ears 
from the truth, and shall be turned 
unto fables. 

“The church instituted by our Lord was 
all right for the common people, but the elite 
of that day wanted something that had more 
show about it, and for the sake of getting those 
rich people to join, many of the church members 
‘ departed from the faith’ and organized for a 
more showy worship. They got some features 
of the Jewish worship, and some of the Pagan 
and combined them in a sort of general com- 
promise, changing the powers of ministry and 
thus came about the Roman Catholic Church.” 

“The Catholic Church, if I understand you, 
is a mixture of Paganism, Judaism, and Chris- 
tianity,” said George. 

“That’s correct.” 


146 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Out of that came the Episcopal Church.” 

“That’s correct.” 

“Out of the Episcopal came the Methodist 
Church.” 

“Yes, Mr. Wesley organized some societies 
in the Episcopal Church which afterward grew 
into the Methodist Church. If we were in my 
library, I could give you abundant historical 
evidence of these facts; and how God blessed 
these societies ’til they developed into our 
present form.” 

“Captain, had it ever occurred to you that 
you’re a converted man already? No man has 
all this interest without conversion.” 

“Bro. Walker, I’m sure the Holy Spirit is 
doing a work in my heart and I have a feeling 
of submission to God, but I have studied to 
know what conversion is and am sure I am not 
converted. Listen while I read, for I am much 
interested of late, in what the New Testament 
says on all these subjects: 

19 II Repent ye, therefore, and be con- 
verted, that your sins may be blotted 
out, when the times of refreshing shall 
come from the presence of the Lord. 

I have been interested for quite awhile, and 
on board the boat coming home a Baptist 
preacher by the name of Gardner, gave me this 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


147 


list of references and I have studied it until 
I know just where I stand.” 

Repentance 

Matthew 3 : 2. Matthew 4 : 17. Acts 2 : 38. 
Acts 3 : 19. 

Confession 

Matthew 10 : 32. Luke 12 : 8. Romans 10 : 9. 


Conversion 

Acts 2 : 41. Acts 4 : 4. Acts 8 : 12. Acts 
13 : 43. 


Sin is taken away 

2 Corinthians 5 : 21. I John I : 9. Isaiah 1 : 18. 
Psalm 103 : 12. 


1 know I am saved 

John 5 : 24. Romans 8:1. I John 3 : 14. 
I John 5 : 1-3. 


148 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Now I will read you the verse that describes 
my condition and also the condition of thousands 
who join the church. They never confess Christ. 
They sit there like a mummy and let the preacher 
confess for them. 

John 12: 

42 If Nevertheless among the* chief 
rulers also many believed on him: but 
because of the Pharisees they did not 
confess him, lest they should be put out 
of the synagogue : 

43 For they loved the praise of men 
more than the praise of God. 

I ‘believe on him’ but for the life of me I 
cant’ get up to the point of confessing him and 
until I do, I know he will not confess me. 
Listen at these verses.” Mat. 10: 

32 If Whosoever therefore shall confess 
me before men, him will I confess also 
before my Father which is in heaven. 

33 But whosoever shall deny me before 
men, him will I also deny before my 
Father which is in heaven. 

Dr. Walker changed his mind about George 
at least a half dozen times during the conver- 
sation and finally went home thoroughly im- 
pressed that he was an earnest, honest, intelli- 
gent seeker after truth. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


149 


Later he said that one New Testament falling 
into young Carter's hands in New Orleans, 
had almost destroyed the usefulness of the 
entire Carter family in the Methodist Church. 
They were questioning the authority and benefit 
of infant baptism, and talking about the differ- 
ent forms of church government and modes of 
baptism, and all those things that spoil a Metho- 
dist. They had Testaments in the home to be 
sure, but they had never thought of using them 
as a book of law and discipline for the church. 
They had accepted the book of laws made by 
their preachers and had never thought of set- 
tling doctrinal questions by the New Testament. 
It is true that in all official work a Methodist 
officer or preacher has no sort of use for a New 
Testament. He uses a book of laws made by 
the preachers. 


150 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Live Nobly. 

I will make use of life, 

Full use, best use. Let come what will, 
’Tis life, and life my cup shall fill, 

Or sweet, or bitter be the draught, 
Boast not, but how the cup is quaffed, 
What but of aloes or sweet wine 
Doth enter in, becometh mine. 

From this, my God-appointed fate, 
What good shall I appropriate? 

Be such my spirit’s enquiry; 

God fixed my lot — but left me free! 

Out of all stress and strife, 

Out of all disappointments, pain, 

What deathless profit shall I gain? 

If sorrow cometh, shall it slay? 

Or shall I bear a song away! 

When wave and tide against me lift, 
Shall I still steer my course of drift? 
Soul, nerve thyself to such as these 
Deep problems; sacred destinies! 

It matters not what fate may give; 

The best is thine — to nobly live! 

— John Buckham. 



CHAPTER XV. 


Dr. Walker, the pastor, was responsible more 
than any one else for giving George a favorable 
place in public opinion, so that in a short time 
he was a part of everything that was going on 
in society. There were many members of his 
company in the place and they could truthfully 
say everything in his favor that goes to make 
up a coveted record. He had been offered a 
ColonePs commission, but declined it rather 
than leave the “boys” who elected him Captain 
when they first started out. In spite of all the 
nice things that were being said by those who 
never dreamed of his dissipation, there was a 
dark spot in his soul — those days of crime; 
and, in spite of pleasurable surroundings, 


152 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


there was a sad spot in his heart — his love 
affair with Hattie Gholston. 

In a revival that came in a few weeks he 
reached the point where he could stand up and 
“ confess ” Christ before man, and while doing 
so he confessed his fall, drunkenness and gam- 
bling, before the church and thereby removed 
the dark place out of his experience, but the 
sad spot remained. 

By this time Dr. Walker had become thor- 
oughly infatuated with him, and urged him to 
prepare the best paper he was capable of, to 
be read before the young people’s meeting 
which had been organized as a result of the 
revival. Finding that “no” would not be ac- 
cepted as an answer, he prepared a peculiar 
paper which had a wonderful effect on the 
audience. The effect however was mainly due 
to the manner in which he read it, for an inci- 
dent occurred just before starting from home 
that put George in a condition of mind that no 
words will describe, and here we leave the reader 
to his own imagination. 

While his sister, Della, was dressing she 
stumbled onto “two old letters” that had 
been in her dresser nearly two years and came 
running and exclaimed: 

“Oh brother! here are two letters I got out 
of the office about two years ago and did not 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


153 


know where you were. I just now found them.” 

As he took them from her hand and recognized 
the familiar handwriting of Hattie Gholston, 
his pale face was clothed with an expression of 
mingled horror, delight and fear that seemed 
calculated to frighten the darkness of the grave. 
His sister, observing his agitation, asked : 

“What on earth is the matter with you?” 

When he recovered himself so that he could 
speak, he said : 

“The failure to get these cost me all the shame 
and disgrace I have suffered and may cost me a 
lifetime of sadness yet.” 

Before opening them, his keen eye had caught 
from the post mark that they were written 
after the date on which he had seen the notice 
of what he supposed, beyond mistake, to be 
Hattie's marriage. The later one read: 

— ville, Florida, Nov. 1, 1866. 

Dear George : 

I wrote you just before leaving Mississippi 
but the mails are so uncertain, I fear you did not 
get it. I am anxious at least to know how you 
came out of this awful bloody war. 

As ever yours, 

Hattie. 

Imagine if you can the condition of mind he 
was in to read a paper already full of fiery 
sentiment, but he read the following: — 


154 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


THE WONDERS OF A SOUL. 


We know very little of the soul, and that 
little was ascertained by studying ourselves; 
hence what we say is likely to appear egotistical 
and selfish. 

I cannot know what a sacrifice is being made 
on the altar of your being, sending its black 
smoke up through the chambers of the soul to 
becloud the countenance, and I may misunder- 
stand and misjudge you right at the point 
where I should and would otherwise, worship 
at the shrine of your manhood. 

Your experience teaches me nothing. I 
must learn from the operations of my own soul, 
at the risk x>f being regarded selfish and 
egotistical. 

What is this tugging at my heart that makes 
my actions appear extreme to others, and my 
thoughts unreasonable to myself? It is that 
noble sentiment of the soul that blazes up when 
memory unpacks its sacred relics and discloses 
the faces — smiles — of loved ones. 

“It is only a love of bygone season; 

A senseless folly that mocked at me, 

A reckless passion that lacked all reason: 

So I killed it and hid it where none could see.” 

No! you did not kill it; a thing thus connected 
with the soul knows no death. Whether we 

The poetry is my own selection. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


155 


wish it or not we go on thinking, and as we think, 
we feel, and our feelings divide into two great 
streams, namely: — 

Joy, rippling along over the pebbles of 
brightness until it loses itself in the “Sea of 
Glass ” before the Great White Throne; and 
sorrow, murmuring through the shadows of 
existence, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” 
And thus it is that thoughts clothed in sunshine 
and thoughts clothed in shadow, chase each other 
through the halls and corridors of the soul, as 
if they would decide by a game of hide-and-seek 
which, light or darkness, shall occupy the 
citadel of being. 

It is the mystery of a soul; that is all — a soul 
with infinite capacity for joy or sorrow, making 
its own Heaven and heating its own Hell. 

What am I, anyhow? Once I thought I 
knew myself well enough to make my thoughts 
and feelings, desires and conclusions, standards 
for the actions of others, but now, as I learn 
more, I am so ignorant of myself as to beg one 
to lead me by the hand in spite of Shakespeare's 
wholesome instruction : — 

“Know thyself, and it will follow as the 
night the day, that thou canst not be false to 
any man.” 

I must know something of myself, and yet 
as I learn, my ignorance becomes distressingly 


156 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


burdensome and unpleasant; but I am here con- 
fronted by these unchosen conditions which 
connect me with my fellows in such a way as 
to make me a part of “One stupendous whole, 
whose body nature is and God the soul,” and, 
therefore, I must study my own Psychological 
makeup in spite of the discouraging magnitude 
of the subject. 

I am such a small part of the “stupendous 
whole” that circumstances over which I have 
no control manufacture experience for me, 
regardless of purpose or will on my part, so 
that I have very little to do with myself after 
all, and I drift on to the conclusion that I am 
nothing — nothing — and yet I am here to exist 
while eternity endures — nothing ! and yet I 
can have a friend and these relations are as 
permanent as God’s throne. I can be more to 
one part of this “stupendous whole” than 
another, and one part is more to me than another 
or all others; and yet I must helplessly draw 
my part of the joys and sorrows from the great 
storehouse of feeling made up of the experience 
of mankind. 

I am “My Brother’s Keeper” and cannot 
separate myself from his experience. There 
is a mutual dependence which neither of us can 
avoid. Everything I do, everything I say, 
influences someone, and I in turn, ^ am alike 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


157 


influenced. Our personality is measured by 
infinite smallness, and yet our identity cannot 
be hidden in the boundless ocean of Eternity. 

The unit “One” is a small thing, and yet it 
is the basis of calculation in the greatest prob- 
lems known to this universe; and, after all of 
my discouraging smallness, I am a unit and 
God will get me into the calculation just where 
I belong in order to obtain a correct solution 
of the great problem of human existence in 
time and eternity. We have very little to do 
with ourselves, and yet immeasurable interests 
depend upon how that little is done. We have 
bodies and we have souls; we made neither and 
it is doubtful if we choose conditions for either. 
When we feel ourselves making a choice, after 
all may we not be simply accepting a more 
favorable suggestion of circumstances? Both 
body and soul yield pleasure and pain, joy and 
sorrow, and these are only opposite ends of the 
same experience, so that it is literally true — 

“Man is a pendulum vibrating between a 
smile and a tear,” and “ Black sin is often white 
truth that missed its way and wandered off in 
paths not understood; twin-born I hold great 
evil and good.” 

If anything is superlatively enjoyable, the 
thought of losing it shades our pleasure, and 
the final loss of it is pain. 


158 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“There’s never a dream that’s happy 
But the waking makes us sad; 

There’s never a dream of sorrow 
But the waking makes us glad.” 

A friendship grows into a sacred tenderness 
and becomes very enjoyable, then an element 
of sorrow is introduced which makes it pain- 
fully sweet by revealing noble traits of character 
in our friend which before were hidden from 
view. The whole is like a beautiful day losing 
itself in the soft twilight which as it deepens 
into night reveals the beauties of a higher world 
than this — glories which must have remained 
unknown had not the gentle touch of night 
pushed aside the day to disclose the blazing 
splendors of the upper world. 

We see in our friends something to enjoy 
and we are happy in their society because they 
are friends, but “one stroke of sorrow makes 
the whole world akin” by revealing common 
qualities — good and bad — and mutual interests 
which form the basis — philosophical basis — 
of that universal love contemplated in the second 
commandment — “Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself.” This is the higher world in human 
experience which can only be revealed by sorrow 
in some fashion; hence sorrow is not an enemy 
but a friend of mankind. When sorrow like a 
crown of thorns is pressed down on the tender 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


159 


brow of a suffering friendship, wringing the 
cry of humble submission from the very heart 
of true manhood and womanhood: “There is 
only one course left for me;” “My heart cries 
for something different;” “I make the sacrifice 
for duty’s sake;” “It grieves me to say it;” 
“Only it must be so” — and + other similar ex- 
pressions from bleeding hearts, there must be, 
there is compensation, for out of the grave of a 
crucified and buried friendship will arise the 
beautiful form of an everlasting love, proven by 
the pangs of death and tried by the horrors 
of the grave, to preside over the mutual interests 
of such friends forever! Such was the happy 
issue of the tried friendship of Septemius and 
Alcander. 

All of this is a natural consequence, for when 
a high and holy friendship is to be sacrificed 
it is because a higher and holier sentiment 
inspires the action, and when its quivering 
form lies dying on the altar of duty, love ministers 
to the aching hearts whispering “Peace be Still.” 

It is a wonderful peculiarity of the soul that 
to gain it must give, and to have much of any 
quality it must make large sacrifices of the same. 
It follows, therefore, that selfishness is starvation 
to the soul; yea! more. It is a ruthless icono- 
clast, stealing through the chambers of being 
and smashing to pieces the symmetrical crea- 


160 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


tions of thought ornamenting the sacred pre- 
cincts of God’s dwelling place in man. Cut a 
soul off from loving friendship with its kind and 
it is dead, and eternal death means no more 
than the continuation of this condition forever 
and ever. 

When a psj^chological volcano bursts from 
the depths of being and pours the lave of fiery 
sentiment out into our experience, our feelings 
break away from the grasp of reason like a 
blazing comet, tearing loose from the grip of 
gravitation and plunge around in the dark 
realm of passion until an irreparable wreck 
called a suicide changes the environments of 
the soul. 

In our calm moments we speak of suicide as 
a crime, and it is a crime, but he who criticizes 
the miserable wretch so seyerely, shows how 
little he knows of the heights and depths and 
capacity for suffering of a soul Dante’s Inferno 
pictures the lost soul seeking death and finding 
it not — (bad case when a failure to find death 
overwhelms with disappointment) — and in 
its effort to find death incidentally destroys 
the body. 

The mind’s eye is not on the destruction of 
the body, but on the annihilation of being, 
and, like a man starving for water, while feeling 
in the dark for it, upsets the vessel containing 


X**' " ' 


4 

*VJU 


ST. MATTHEW. 


Ch. isi, ; 


10 

11 

12 


13 

14 

15 

16 


17 

?V 

2 


hath .c\yed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth 
therefore fruit worthy of repentance : ami suv not confidently 
v.uhiu yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; fori say 
unto you, God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abra - 
ham. But the axe also already iieth at the root oi the trees ; there 
fore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down 
and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto re- 
pentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I ; whoso 
shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy- 
Ghost and with lire : Whose fan is in his hand, and he will tho- 
roughly cleanse his floor, and gather the wheat into the garner, 
but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 

♦Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, lobe 
baptized by him. But J6hn forbad him, saying, I have need to 
be baptized of thee, and comestthou to me ! And Jesus answer- 
ing said to him, Suffer f4 now; for thus it bccometb us to fulfil 
all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus being bap 
tized, went up straightway from the water, and lo the heaven, 
were opened to him, and he saw the Spirited God descending like 
a dove, and coming upon him. And lo a voice out of the heavens,' 
saying, this is my beloved Sort in whom 1 delight. t 

■ Then * was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness toL 
be templed by the devil. And having lasted forty days and forty l 
nights, he wa« afterwards hungry. And the tempter coming to| 
him, said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones f 
be made bread. But he answering said, It is written; t Man 
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth' 
out of the mouth of God. Then the devil tuketh him with him | 
into the holy city, and setteth him on the battlement of the temple, j 
And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, castthysclf dow>i A 
for it is written, JHe shall charge his Angels concerning thee, and! 
in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dasbl 
thy foot against a stone. Jesus said to :..a , , >v ruteo agai r ^® 


PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION OF THE THIRD CHAPTER OF 
MATTHEW FROM WESLEY’S TESTAMENT. 









































































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TWO OLD LETTERS 


161 


it and perishes of thirst. The soul reaching 
out for relief upsets the vessel containing its 
only hope and spends an eternity in despair 
as a result of the accident. Accident! Shall 
I say accident? Yes — one of incalculable im- 
portance that happened while the soul was 
making a swing around the infinite circle of 
being, seeking some opening through which it 
could escape the responsibility of existence, 
and those who criticize the act so freely have 
not crossed the threshold of their own being 
to that boundless ocean of thought where the 
waves of passion dash against the feet of imagi- 
nation as it stands gazing into “ Fields of desert 
gloom, immense, w T here gravitation shifting 
turns the other way and to some dread, un- 
known, infernal, centre downward weighs.” 
The ideal region of unnatural things contains 
no phantastic distortions equal to those of a 
human soul when it reaches that condition in 
which it covets death — annihilation. 

The human soul is the battle ground on 
which all the struggle between right and wrong 
occurs; and when Hell sends its dark battalions 
into this field to do battle for error to be met 
in deadly conflict, as it were, by the shin- 
ing cohorts of angels, who encamp around 
about them that fear Him, we are not sur- 
prised at the agitation, extreme conduct and 
(ID 


162 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


the apparent failure of the millions of our race. 

Above the plane on which the soul moves 
there is no wrong, no depravity, and below it 
there is no moral responsibility; hence no right, 
no wrong. It is only in the soul that these 
awful conflicts rage and scatter our hopes of 
earthly happiness on the rock-bound shores 
of eternity in drifts of wreckage wild and form- 
less, but hidden from view by a friendly darkness 
except when a flash of lightning from the 
psychological storm cloud above our heads 
reveals the irreparable ruin. 

But it is consoling to know that even after 
hope is dead to live no more, the greatest of 
the three Graces — Love, can transfigure the 
wild waste of the soul and out of the tangled 
wreck bring order and beauty. Love is greater 
than hope for while “Hope ends in fruition,” 
love bids defiance to the lapse of time and 
measures arms with eternity. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


When George returned from the entertain- 
ment he was yet worked up to a high pitch for 
every sentence in the paper he had read seemed 
more a part of his own experience than ever 
and he was in a good condition of mind to explain 
to his parents minutely the entire situation. 
He said: 

“I have played at ‘Comedy of Errors ’ long 
enough. I shall be off in three days for Florida.” 

“Would not a letter be better than a personal 
visit to find out the present condition of things?” 
suggested his mother. 

“No! mother I shall trust nothing but my 
own eyes and ears till this matter is settled 
forever.” 


164 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


This being Tuesday night, all things were in 
readiness for him to start Friday morning 
when his mother said : 

“My son, you know Fm not superstitious, 
but some how, I can’t help but wish you were 
starting on some other day than Friday.” 

“If I find an unpleasant state of affairs it 
will not be because I started on Friday; and if 
I find it otherwise I’ll be glad I did not wait 
for another day. So I shall be off and know 
for myself all about this matter, and so saying, 
he left the old homestead for that short trip 
with much more fear and trembling than when 
he bade them good bye to face the well-aimed 
bullets of a brave and worthy foe. The very 
locomotive that drew the train seemed to catch 
the spirit of his trip and grow restless at every 
stop; and as it stood panting on the track — 
the very embodiment of strength, life and motion 
— he realized how well the old hackneyed dis- 
cretion — “hoof of iron, limb of steel, and 
heart of fire,” described that wonderful piece 
of mechanism. 

A few miles out of Atlanta, Ga., and they had 
a wreck that caused five hours delay. This 
brought that old Friday foolishness to his mind, 
and though he did not believe a syllable of it, 
he found himself wishing he had started on some 
other day. It is a fact in human experience that 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


165 


when we open our heart to one fear a thousand 
crowd in; and George was no exception to this 
rule, for he was scared at everything the moment 
he gave way the least bit to the Friday super- 
stition. He was too restless to stay in the 
car and it was a little too cold to be out so he 
walked forward to warm himself by the engine 
and meditate on out door objects. As the 
steam went down the locomotive seemed to 
lose its interest in the trip and lazily fizzed on 
the track as if it never would move again. 

He began to think about that last note 
written by Hattie and saw things in it he never 
dreamed of before he left home. He concluded 
that the note was just about what she would 
write even if she were married. 

“She simply wants to know if I got out of 
the war. Then she signs it ‘Hattie.’ If she were 
not married she would have added the Gholston. 

In this state of mind he would have returned 
home but for the fact that his train moved on 
before the other one came and both did not stop 
at the place of passing. When the train got in 
motion, his courage asserted itself and he re- 
solved to see the thing out, saying: “I can pay 
her a friendly visit after marriage as well as 
she can write a friendly note provided she is 
married.” It was well he made this resolve for 
he certainly did need it later on. 


166 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


He had a nice trip the remainder of the jour- 
ney, and had forgotten all about that Friday 
superstition, feeling perfectly content to go on 
and see for himself just what there was in it. 

“ ville!” exclaimed the porter, and the 

passengers began to hustle out; but George, in 
a sort of aimless fashion, got off at the rear end 
of the coach and began looking around in a way 
which disclosed plainly that he was ill at ease. 

“Boss, does you want a rig?” said a negro. 
“Do I want what?” not understanding him. 

“Fs in the liberty stable business, and wants 
to hire you a carriage or buggy if you needs one.” 

“Do you own a stable?” 

“No sha, Fse drivin’ fo’ Mr. Dick Hibler 
and he owns a fine stable boss.” 

“If you drive I guess you know the citizens 
around here pretty well, don’t you?” 

“I guess I does. I’ve drived right here ever 
since dem Yankees come down on dis place and 
sot all dese niggers free.” 

“Do you know Mr. Gholston?” 

“De ol’ Squi’ah? Course I does, I was out 
dare las’ Friday.” The word Friday put George 
into a shake from head to foot. 

“What were you out there for?” 

“You see boss, I meets dis train and his 
daughter come on a visit and I driv her and de 
baby out in dat buggy you sees hitched to de post.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


167 


“Were they all well?” 

“I didn't see nobody but de ol' lady, I knows 
she was well, kase she come out just a runnin' 
and said “Why Hettie,' (the negro pronounced 
it Hattie) ‘why didn't you let us know you 
were coming, and we would have met you at 
the depot."' This settled it. Hattie was 
married and he had acted the fool by not taking 
his mother's advice, thought he. 

“Have you a good hotel here?” 

“Yes sir boss, best in de land.” 

“Well drive me to it.” 

“I will if you wants me to boss, but dat's it 
right cross de street where yo' sees dem big 
mulberry trees wid de leaves all on de ground 
from de frost.” 

“Oh, well! I can walk over there.” 

He went over, registered, washed, and was 
soon ready for dinner. The house was first 
class; kept by an unmarried lady, whose age 
was an unknown quantity, who resolved to 
know about George and his business before he 
got away. Her father owned the farm and this 
fine residence when the railroad was built right 
in front of his door. He sold off the lots that 
made the town and converted this spacious 
mansion into a hotel. Miss “Vic.,” as they 
called her, felt as if she owned the town as well 


168 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


as the hotel and claimed the right to know, if 
not regulate, everybody’s business. 

She sized George up as a revenue officer and 
began to talk to him as if he were. 

He told her he was not. 

“U. S. Marshal, are you? I did not think 
you were a drummer.” 

“No madam, I am not a U. S. Marshal.” 

“Just traveling for your health and to see 
the country?” 

“You certainly don’t think I need my health 
improved after seeing me eat that fine dinner?” 

That compliment on the dinner pleased but 
did not satisfy her, and she had grown as reso- 
lute over her failure to elicit his business as he 
had become annoyed by her persistence so they 
were both in a condition of mind to say an 
extreme thing. She did not have any too much 
respect for a Northern man at best. 

“What is your business ?” she asked. 

“I haven’t any business here and if I had 
a thimble full of sense I’d be at home.” He 
had grown tired of her and was disgusted with 
himself again. 

A little walk and communion with nature 
usually quieted him but not so this time. 
Every leaf, snatched from their withering stems 
by the icy fingers of the recent frost acknow- 
ledged the presence of death and seemed to 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


169 


proclaim in husky voice, as the wind blew them 
across his path, eternal death! to his fondest 
hope ! 

He walked up the street to a beautiful flower 
garden and as he leaned on the fence and gazed 
upon the shrubs and flowers, their dumb mouths 
seemed to find tongues of sorrow with which 
to whisper out a mutual sympathy to his quiver- 
ing soul: * * “We all do fade as a leaf, and 

our iniquities like the winds have taken us 
away.” When one reaches this condition 
everything has a voice either to mock at our sor- 
row or sympathize with our misery, so all nature, 
to his eye, was draped in mourning or clothed 
in a satanic, mocking grin at his disappoint- 
ment. He held on to the iron fence to prevent 
his falling, while his soul swept off into a psycho- 
logical storm where raging nature seemed to be 
clothed in merciless anger and viciously fighting 
his tenderest emotions. He prayed for death 
but even that “last enemy” seemed angry and 
unwilling to come to him at a time when his 
presence would be a solemn satisfaction. 

He returned to the hotel but was in no con- 
dition to compliment the supper or partake 
thereof, and asked to be shown to his room at 
once. He, accordingly, was placed in a room 
elegantly furnished and as well adapted to Miss 
Vic/s purposes as to his comfort, for she fully 


170 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


intended to study him well and find out his 
business. She believed yet that he was a revenue 
officer or U. S. marshal or had some “govern- 
ment job” which she disliked. He walked to 
the centre of the room and seated himself at a 
strong table, clasping his hands firmly and 
throwing his arms out at full length so that 
both armpits rested on the table while his head 
fell to one side and rested on his right arm. 
“Hattie Gholston!” he murmured. “She 
flashed across my life like a blazing meteor 
leaving my soul darker and more dismal for 
the momentary light.” 

As he felt her going out of his life forever, an 
awful shudder convulsed his whole being. He 
felt a cold, icy tremor come over him as his 
empty soul began to fill with hideous imagery 
calculated to frighten the “King of Terrors” 
(death) from his throne of mouldering skulls, 
rottening bones and putrid flesh. Disappoint- 
ment crawled in like a cold, slimy serpent and 
folded itself up in the chambers of his soul while 
his spirit seemed chained to the skeleton of 
his dead hope — mouth to mouth, body to body, 
limb to limb, until expectation should perish 
forever. An awful phantom, clothed in the 
habiliments of despair, took possession of his 
heart and ruled over his feelings, desires and 
aspirations, for the time transforming him into 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


171 


a veritable demon. In his attempt to describe 
the shadowy form that crawled in and took 
possession of his heart, he quoted: 

* * * “ but how shall I describe 

What naught resembles else my eye hath seen? 

Of worm or serpent kind it something looked, 

But monstrous with a thousand snaky heads, 

Eyed each with double orbs of glaring wrath ; 

And with as many tails that twisted out 
In horrid revolution, tipped with stings; 

And all its mouths that wide and darkly gaped, 

And breathed most poisonous breath had each a sting 
Forked, and long, and venomous, and sharp; 

And in its writhings infinite it grasped 
Malignantly what seemed a heart, swollen black, 

And quivering with torture most intense; 

And still the heart with anguish throbbing high, 

Made effort to escape, but could not; for 
Howe’er it turned — and oft it vainly turned, 

These complicated foldings held it fast, 

And still the monstrous beast with sting of head 
Or tail transpierced it bleeding ever more.” 

— Pollok. 

Just how he spent the night he nor we will 
ever know, but next morning, before any one 
else had gotten up about the hotel, he found 
himself walking restlessly back and forth on 
the railroad track debating the question once 
more of taking his own life by throwing himself 
before the first locomotive that came, for he 
felt that he had unmistakable evidence now 


172 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


that Hattie was married and gone from him 
forever. 

It is a mystery to see a man noble in character, 
strong in purpose, and brave in battle giving way 
to feeling and yet it is not incompatible with 
greatness. This whole nation admired General 
Grant when he wept over the little girl as much 
as when he commanded a great army in battle. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


When the train came, George went aboard 
and ran on down the road twenty-eight miles, 
merely to get away from that place so that he 
might compose himself and determine what 
course to pursue. Arriving at the place selected 
for a temporary stay, he strolled around to a 
business house which handled farming imple- 
ments, and almost before he was aware, he 
took an order for a large bill of goods and for- 
warded same to his father and arranged to spend 
the winter in that country taking orders. This 
proved to be a profitable business project which 
seemed to come about by accident, but such 


174 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


accidents never happen to any but those who 
by patient toil and industry prepare for the 
opportune moment. When George began with 
his father in the farm implement business, 
he studied the catalogues, prices, etc., night 
and day; and when he left home he filled his 
grip with catalogues to study on the train that 
he might economize every moment and relieve 
the monotony of the journey at the same time. 
As a result he was ready for the opportunity 
when it came, and was not slow to give his new 
disappointment a business turn and thus 
account to his neighbors in Pennsylvania for 
his sudden trip to the South. He ran over to 
Montgomery, Ala., and sold an immense bill 
of goods and established a sort of headquarters 
for awhile from which he worked the country 
around. In the meantime Miss Vic. reported to 
Hattie Gholston the strange conduct of a man 
from Pennsylvania, who in agony pronounced 
her name over and over again while in a state 
of frenzy, and had her come and examine the 
register hoping to get something from her that 
she had failed to extort from George on that 
memorable occasion, when she pressed him so 
hard to ascertain his business. She assured 
Miss Hattie that the fellow was in great mental 
agony and certainly had committed suicide 
by that time, or would do so soon. Hattie 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


175 


knew from the name, residence and handwriting 
that it was none other than he for whom she 
had lived all these years; but she set her face 
like a flint not to betray, by word, or tear, or 
countenance, the real situation to Miss Vic., 
who always furnished all startling information 
to the public. 

The fact that he was in mental agony and 
mentioned her name “again and again” and 
then went on off without seeing her was a great 
puzzle. She thought of many solutions for this 
new problem, but was philosophical enough 
not to settle on any of them as correct, in the 
absence of information. She hurried back home, 
as soon as it was possible to excuse herself from 
Miss Vic., and going in the back way found 
’Cinda preparing dinner. As she entered the 
door her lips were quivering, her eyes were 
overflowing with tears, and the grip she had 
unconsciously taken on her new winter clothing 
with her left hand, over her heart had actually 
torn the strong fabric at every point where the 
death-like clutch had fastened upon the gar- 
ment. With a pain, or something that seemed 
a pain at her heart, she exclaimed, as she fell 
into 'Cinda’s arms: “Oh! ’Cinda, my heart!” 

’Cinda placed her on her own bed in the 
corner of the old-fashioned kitchen and at- 
tempted to leave her to bring Mrs. Gholston, 


176 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


but Hattie’s arms were entwined about her old 
black neck with that convulsive grip known 
only to those who hang to a straw, as it were, 
while an ocean of sorrows swallows up the soul. 
A physician was called and she was treated for 
neuralgia of the heart and he received his pay, 
but it was black ’Cinda’s medicine — prayer, 
sympathy and encouragement — that cured the 
patient. 

When she recovered a little, she, as usual, 
told ’Cinda all, only to find her faith greatly 
strengthened by what seemed a great dis- 
couragement and hear her say with more em- 
phasis than ever before : 

“I tell’s yo chile, God’s gwine to bring dis 
here matter out all right. I feels it in my bones.” 

“Yes, but ’Cinda, how can I live till He does 
it?” 

“Live! Dat same God what’s bringin’ all 
dis ’round he’s yo life, and he helps you to live 
Your pa didn’t own my husband. De man on 
de next plantation owned him an sole him to 
a nigger trader dat took him clear to Alabam. 
Dis boy Tim, what’s just yo age was two years 
ole den, an held up his little black hans as da 
drove his pap by on de way to Alabam. 

Den chile, I went to prayin’ and one dark 
rainy day when we was all shellin’ corn, yo pa 
he saw me cryin’, and said: 



‘THIS BOOK FELL FROM HIS POCKET.” 



































































TWO OLD LETTERS 


177 


'Cinda, I'll have that nigger if it costs me the 
lower plantation. Den chile I was happy. I 
node yo pa would buy him back to me.” 

During all the time spent in telling her this 
story (which is greatly shortened here) 'Cinda 
was engaged in laving her burning brow and 
eyes with cool towels from a basin of water, 
and soothing the soul into restful submission 
to providences not understood, so that in a 
little while, she was relaxed in body and spirit 
and quietly said: 

“'Cinda, what made him do that way and 
then go on off when he was so near me and 
evidently stopped in this town because we are 
here?” 

“I don't know, chile; but Fs been thinkin' 
how I'll find out more than dat old maid at de 
hotel knows 'bout dat man, and if you'll let 
me off to go to town dis evenin' and get me a 
little smokin' tobacker, I'll find out mo'ah 
'bout dat man and where he's went dan any 
ob dem folks knows 'bout.” 

“For goodness sake, go now 'Cinda, if you 
think you can;” and Hattie began kissing her 
old black face and clasping her neck with a 
trustful fondness known only to those who 
have enjoyed the confidence and sympathy 
of a slave in time of great sorrow and affliction. 
They were true as fidelity itself. 

( 12 ) 


178 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Hattie supplied the funds with which the 
tobacco was to be purchased while ’Cinda 
dressed — which meant a clean apron, and a 
bandanna handkerchief, tucked in around her 
head in a fashion known to the days of slavery, 
— and she was off on an errand equal in impor- 
tance (she felt) to the one when she piloted 
a brigade of Sherman’s army over fifteen miles 
through the swamp and caused them to miss 
“Massa Gholston’s horses that w T ere hidden 
out in the bottom to keep the soldiers from 
getting them — true to the soldiers as a pilot 
and true to her Master’s interests. 

When ’Cinda arrived at the village she 
went at once to the hotel and made it a spe- 
cial point to let Miss Vic. see her enter the 
kitchen so that the conversation might come 
as a result of Miss Vic’s, curiosity, and in 
this she was not disappointed nor delayed a 
moment, for she had hardly time to get her 
cob pipe filled and lighted when Miss Vic. ac- 
costed her: 

“ ’Cinda, that nigger-equality, Pennsylvania 
Yankee, who cut such shines here the other 
night, is Hattie Gholston’s sweetheart.” 

“Now chile, yo’ imagination’s gwin right off 
wid yo,” said ’Cinda, and went on: “Who 
said he was?” 

“I say it,” replied Miss Vic. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


179 


“Yes, but you am a mighty po’ judge of 
sweetheart matters anyway, or you’d ’o spliced 
wid dat young doctor ’fore de war.” 

Any hint that Miss Vic. was old enough to 
marry before the war was an unpardonable sin, 
and she at once ordered ’Cinda out, remarking 
at the same time: “If ever ’Duck-foot’ shows 
another Pennsylvania Yankee to this hotel 
I’ll order him away.” 

Here ’Cinda got her cue, and hastened away, 
seemingly because she feared Miss Vic’s, wrath, 
but really to find “Duck-foot,” and obtain from 
him all the information she could about George, 
and doing so, she returned at once, puffing her 
cob pipe, and found Miss Hattie standing in the 
kitchen door waiting for her. 

“Did you learn anything, ’Cinda?” 

“I sho’ did chile.” 

“Well, for goodness sake, tell me quickly.” 

“You know dat nigger what da calls ‘Duck- 
foot kase his toes all grows together?” — 
“Well, what about Duck-foot?” — “I was just 
gwine to tell you. He axed Duck-foot all about 
you folks. Dat nigger tole him about bringin’ 
out yo sister and the chilern den de man said he 
would not come out here. Pie had to run to catch 
the train when he started away and this here book 
fell out of his overcoat pocket, which was turned 
top side down by hangin’ the coat across his arm.” 


180 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


W Hattie took the book and as she opened it, 
beheld “two old letters” contained in 
envelopes manufactured in the South during 
the war between the state and therefore made 
of common brown paper. They were addressed 
to Captain George Carter in her own hand- 
writing, and now she was sure he had gotten 
them, but all this thrust upon her a new problem 
which would have been distressing indeed but 
for ’Cinda’s old saying: “God is gwin’ to bring 
dis matter out all right.” 

Upon further investigation she found the 
book to be a well-written diary of the last two 
months of the civil war and the events of his 
miserable life up to his return home in rags and 
disgrace. 

The amounts paid to Uncle Jimmie for nursing 
him in New Orleans were noted, together with 
the events of that sad experience. He had 
clipped and pasted in this diary that little 
marriage notice from the chronicle, and this, 
taken with what Jimmie had told her, enabled 
her to see that the suffering, sorrow, dissipation 
and disgrace all came as a result of a careless 
editor who wanted locals more than facts. 

He had also pasted the cluster of scripture 
references given to him by Rev. Mr. Gardner, 
in the diary, and all the latest records indicated 
that he had given up his life of dissipation. Some 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


181 


of the latest notes disclosed his business and the 
place in Pennsylvania where that business was 
located, and she would have written at once 
but for the "two old letters” so strangely 
thrown back into her possession unanswered. 
She thought surely God was directing in it all, 
and would bring it out all right and she 
simply resigned herself to Him just as ’Cinda 
advised, — “Just leave it all to Him, chile,” — 
said ’Cinda. 


182 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


God Knows Best. 

If you could push ajar the gates of life 

And stand within, and all God's workings see 
We could interpret all this doubt and strife 
And for each mystery find a key! 

But not today. Then be content, poorheart! 

God’s plans like lilies pure and white unfold; 
We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart; 
Time will reveal the calyxes of gold. 

And if, through patient toil, we reach the land 
Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest, 
When we shall clearly know and understand, 

I think that we will say, “God knew the best!” 

— The Gateway. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


Methodist people are to be commended for 
their zeal, industry, and practical work, far be- 
yond any other Christian workers known to 
mankind. George had hardly gotten still in 
his temporary quarters before they began to 
“rope him in.” His landlady, who was a Metho- 
dist, sent for the pastor, as promptly as other 
people call for a doctor in sickness, and intro- 
duced him to “Captain Carter,” and in less than 
a week every Methodist, (be it said to their 
credit) was shaking hands with Bro. Carter. 

In all this he saw business advantages, 
social advantages, and in fact, much good 
generally, and almost concluded, after all, that 
one had just as well be a Methodist as anything 


184 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


else even if the whole thing had been originated 
by man. One thing was certain to his mind, 
Methodism did much good, though he did not 
believe in the 11 one-man-power government ” 
as he called it. He did not believe in infant 
baptism; he did not believe in sprinkling people 
and calling it baptism while our Lord was bap- 
tized in the river Jordan; he did not believe in 
the preachers getting together in general con- 
ference and making the book of laws by which 
the Methodist Church was, and is now, governed 
when the New Testament was given by 
inspiration for that very purpose. 

But in spite of all this he had about made up 
his mind to join the Methodist Church and 
settle the whole matter, just because good 
people belonged to it. His parents were good 
and they were Methodists, thought he, and for 
him to break away through a sort of hard head- 
edness would show a want of respect for them, 
and at the same time get him in no better shape 
for serving the Master. 

Picking up that New Testament given to him 
by Rev. R. G. Seymour in New Orleans, he 
turned to this verse — Matt. 10 : 37, and read 
thoughtfully : 


37 He that loveth father or mother 
more than me is not worthy of me; and 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


185 


he that loveth son or daughter more 
than me is not worthy of me. 

/ 

“After all, joining the church is not a family 
affair/’ said he. “There is principle involved 
in it.” 

The pastor of the Methodist Church called 
on him in a few days with the expressed purpose 
of having him join the church at once, and when 
he raised some questions about sprinkling infants 
and letting it pass for baptism — actually taking 
the place of that “burial” in water required 
by the New Testament; — and of the form of 
church government by which one man was 
permitted to rule over all the rest; their man- 
made book of laws and such questions, he was 
promptly informed that those were “doctri- 
nal” questions and would prove ruinous to his 
usefulness if he did not let them alone. The 
preacher advised him not to study any of these 
subjects; to go on and join the church and these 
matters would all be attended to by the minister 
and then excused himself to make another call. 

“Doctrinal questions” escaped George’s lips 
audibly as he heard the front door close after 
the pastor. 

The land lady could not restrain her curiosity 
any further and entered the room at once to see 
what effect the pastor’s visit had had on the new 


186 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


boarder, and overheard the words “ doctrinal 
questions” for he repeated them over and over 
several times. She asked with much surprise : 

“Mr. Carter, do you believe in doctrine?” 

“I believe in thinking ,” said he. 

11 1 do not believe in doctrine. It has spoiled 
the usefulness of so many people; and preachers 
are no more good when they begin to preach 
' doctrine/” said the lady, “I do not know 
much about it, but I guess I do not believe in it. 
It must be something bad, for our preachers 
are always talking against it, and heartily oppose 
any study of doctrinal questions by the people.” 

“How long 'till supper?” he asked. 

“Oh, it's two hours yet, are you hungry? 
We are to have catfish for supper.” 

“No; I simply wish to put in that time in 
finding out what ‘ doctrine' is.” 

“I'm sure it is something bad so far as reli- 
gion is concerned or our preachers would not 
oppose it so.” 

“I'll study while Aunt Tab,” (the cook) 
“gets that fish and corn bread up to southern 
taste.” 

Just outside of his room and across the hall 
stood an old-fashioned book case. It contained 
an Unabridged Dictionary and a reference Bible 
which were about all he needed for the work in 
hand. He was a critical student. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


187 


“Doctrines,” he repeated over and over as he 
turned the leaves of the dictionary in search 
of the word. “Here it is.” 1 Doctrine, n (L 
doctrina, learning; docere, to teach). A principle; 
precept; tenet/ “There is nothing bad about 
the definition I get from the dictionary,” said 
he, “so I will look it up in the New Testament. 
I presume the religious use of it is bad sure 
enough, or our preachers would not so univer- 
sally condemn all study of doctrine by the 
people.” 

So saying he began to run the references and 
the first was: I Timothy 3 : 16. 

16 All scripture is given by inspiration 
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruc- 
tion in righteousness: 

Acts 2 : 42. 

42 And they continued steadfastly in 
the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, 
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 

To ‘continue’ in doctrine seems to be the 
proper thing but our preachers say 'have 
nothing to do with it, let it alone, it is ruinous/ 
etc. 

The wicked Jews who murdered Jesus and 
persecuted his followers hated “doctrine.” 


188 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Acts 5 : 28. 

28 Saying, Did not we straitly com- 
mand you that ye should not teach in 
this name? and, behold, ye have filled 
Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend 
to bring this man’s blood upon us. 

II Timothy 4:3. 

3 For the time will come when they 
will not endure sound doctrine; but after 
their own lust shall they heap to them- 
selves teachers, having itching ears. 

Titus 1 : 19. 

9 Holding fast the faithful word as he 
hath been taught, that he may be able 
by sound doctrine both to exhort and con- 
vince the gainsayers. 

Romans 6 : 17. 

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the 
servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from 
the heart that form of doctrine which 
was delivered you. 

18 Being then made free from sin, ye be- 
came the servants of righteousness. 


Romans 16 : 17. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


189 


17 * * * Mark them which cause 
divisions and offences contrary to the 
doctrine which ye have learned; and 
avoid them. 

He found scores of other passages in which 
the word doctrine occurred in about the same 
sense, and was utterly surprised — cast down 
I may say — that any preacher should discourage 
the study of doctrinal questions. 

George would have eaten his supper in silence, 
for he was just a trifle perplexed, but his land- 
lady was a Christian worker of the first rank 
and had fully resolved to commit him against 
all investigation of doctrinal questions, for she 
had been taught from a child by Methodist 
ministers that people who studied them were 
useless in the church and worse than 
useless — troublesome, hence when all were 
seated comfortably in the well-warmed dining- 
room, hot coffee at hand, plates helped bounti- 
fully to catfish, cornbread, etc., she began: 

“How did you come out, Captain, on your 
investigation of ‘ doctrine ' this afternoon ?” 

“I must say I am surprised, madam, and a 
trifle disappointed.” 

“It's worse than you thought I dare say,” 
she observed. 

“No; I find just the contrary to be true. 
The book — New Testament I mean — is full 


190 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


of ‘ doctrine/ and God highly commends those 
who /endure sound doctrine’ and condemns, 
in unmeasured terms, those who ‘teach for 
doctrine the commandments of men.’ Man’s 
doctrine is bad.” Mat. 15 : 7-9. 

7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias 
prophesy of you, saying, . 

8 This people draweth nigh unto me 
with their mouth and honoreth me 
with their lips; but their heart is far 
from me. 

9 But in vain they do worship me, 
teaching for doctrines the commandments 
of men. 

“I do not know what the New Testament has 
to say about it,” said she, “but I do know our 
book of discipline and the laws by which our 
church is governed were made by as smart men, 
and as good, as ever lived, and our preachers 
are all against any doctrinal study now, and I 
am certain there is . no good in it, Testament 
or no Testament.” 

“That had always been my impression,” 
said he, “’till this afternoon, and that is why 
I am a trifle disappointed. I see now I got the 
impression just like you got it, viz: from the 
general opposition our ministers have to the 
study of doctrine, and yet the New Testament 
is full of it and imposes it on us as a solemn duty, 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


191 


to know, teach and preach the doctrines of the 
Gospel. ” 

“I should say it is full of it,” chimed in old 
Col. Stover as he waited a moment for another 
cup of Dixie coffee, as he called it, and a hot 
piece of fish, “and it is the duty of every man 
and every woman to know these doctrines. 
I have no patience with any system of theology 
that encourages ignorance of, or even indiffer- 
ence to any New Testament truths or doctrines.” 
Here he asked George for the little testament 
and read: Acts 17 : 11. 

11 These were more noble than those 
in Thessalonica, in that they received 
the word with all readiness of mind, 
and searched the scriptures daily, 
whether those things were so. 

Addressing Capt. Carter, whom he had learned 
to love and respect though they had fought each 
other recently on the bloody battlefield, he 
continued : 

“Captain, I believe it is totally unworthy 
of cultivated folks — yes, worse than that — 
it is a sin against God and man, to accept re- 
ligious doctrines with closed eyes like a young 
bird opens wide its little mouth to receive and 
swallow anything that may be dropped in, even 
by an unknown hand. 


192 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


The man I heard preach last Sunday reminded 
me of a cruel trick when I was a boy. I knocked 
a small bumble bee from a clover blossom with 
my hat, caught it between two sticks and ran 
to the hedge where there were some young 
birds in a nest. A gentle tip of the nest, as if 
the mother bird had stepped on it, brought 
three trembling heads up with mouths wide 
open. Just then I dropped that bee into 
one of those unsuspecting mouths and you 
know the rest, they flopped out of the nest.” 

“I heard that sermon,” said the land lady 
‘‘and I never heard a more comforting thing in 
my life on the subject of trust. I do not see how 
it could remind you of your cruel trick unless 
your own guilty conscience caused you to fear 
the judgment he spoke of.” 

“ It was in this way,” said the Colonel. “ That 
man dropped a false doctrine into the minds 
of that congregation that has a sting tempered 
in the fires of hell, and sharpened on the grind- 
stone of deception, and poisoned with the virus 
of depravity.” 

“I wonder we did not all flop out of the nest 
if it were so bad as all that,” said the impatient 
land lady with a significant fling of the head. 

“Because, madam, the flopping time has not 
come yet,” said the Colonel with composure, 
and went on to explain: 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


193 


“That man taught you that whatever you 
believe to be right, the same is right for you, 
and that is just as full of stings as Pollok’s 
monster: 

Of serpent kind it something looked, 

But monstrous, with a thousand snaky heads, 

Each eyed with double orbs of glaring wrath, 

And with as many tails, that twisted out 
In horrid revolutions tipped with stings. 

“Do you mean to say I'll be lost if I believe 
that?” she asked. 

“Not necessarily; and yet you suffer a dis- 
advantage corresponding in extent to every 
false doctrine y ou accepted from book or 
teacher.” Isaich 9 : 16. 

16 For the leaders of this people cause 
them to err; and they that are led of them 
are destroyed. 

“This verse relates to a vital error into which 
the people were led and by which they were 
destroyed.” said the Col., “but the following 
verse shows the disadvantages of accepting and 
believing and practicing smaller errors — less 
vital commands.” Matt. 5 : 19. 

19 Whosoever therefore shall r break 
one of these least commandments, and 
shall teach men so, he shall be called the 


( 13 ) 


194 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


least in the kingdom of heaven; but who- 
soever shall do and teach them, the same 
shall be called great in the kingdom of 
heaven. 

“People can be saved in heaven without 
perfect obedience, faith in Christ saves us — 
but he who is careful to do all that Jesus com- 
mands is infinitely ahead of the indifferent 
Christians — one who believes that anything 
is right, if he honestly believes it to be so.” 

“This fish,” he continued, “swallowed a hook 
because it was made to appear innocent, yea, 
absolutely desirable, to a hungry cat, but he 
suffered the consequence, however honestly 
he believed it to be only a mouthful of nourish- 
ing food. We are eating him. 

That doctrine, that what we honestly believe 
to be right is right, is one of Satan’s sugar-coated 
lies and all the more dangerous because it is 
easily swallowed, and more — tastes good. 

In I Kings 13 : 11-22, God’s own prophet 
was led to believe honestly, and that too by 
another one of God’s prophets, that he might 
return and eat a social meal. God had told him 
not to do it, but he saw ‘no harm in it’ and 
really believed he might do so, but he was slain 
for it. ” 

11 H Now there dwelt an old prophet 
in Bethel; and his sons came and told 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


him all the works that the man of God 
had done that day in Bethel; the words 
which he had spoken unto the king, them 
also they told to their father. 

12 And their father said unto them, 
What way went he? For his sons had 
seen what way the man of God went, 
which came from Judah. 

13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me 
the ass. So they saddled him the ass: 
and he rode thereon, 

14 And went after the man of God, 
and found him sitting under an oak; 
and he said unto him, Art thou the man of 
God that earnest from Judah? And he 
said, I am. 

15 Then he said unto him, Come home 
with me and eat bread. 

16 And he said, I may not return with 
thee, nor go in with thee; neither will I 
eat bread nor drink water with thee in this 
place: 

17 For it was said to me by the word 
of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor 
drink water there, nor turn again to go 
by the way that thou earnest. 

18 He said unto him, I am a prophet 
also as thou art; and an angel spake unto 
me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring 
him back with thee into thine house, that 
he may eat bread and drink water. But 
he lied unto him. 

19 So he went back with him, and 
did eat bread in his house, and drank 
water. 


196 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


20 And it came to pass, as they sat 
at the table, that the word of the Lord 
came unto the prophet that brought him 
back: 

21 And he cried unto the man of God 
that came from Judah, saying, Thus 
saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast 
disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and 
hast not kept the commandment which 
the Lord thy God commanded thee, 

22 But earnest back, and hast eaten 
bread and drunk water in the place, of 
the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat 
no bread and drink no water; thy carcase 
shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy 
fathers. 

24 And when he was gone, a lion met 
him by the way, and slew him; and his 
carcase was cast in the way, and the ass 
stood by it, the lion also stood by the 
carcase. 

“Men were preaching all sorts of things in the 
days of Paul and Peter and James, and people 
were honestly believing those errors, but be- 
cause they were honest and conscientious in 
accepting them were they excused by the great 
Apostle? nay verily, Honesty cuts no figure 
when we are wrong in our belief. 

Galatians 1 : 8-9. 

8 But though we, or an angel from 
heaven, preach any other gospel unto 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


197 


you than that which we have preached 
unto you, let him be accursed. 

9 As we said before, so say I now 
again, If any man preach any other gospel 
unto you than that ye have received, let 
him be accursed. 

“God has plainly taught in all ages that man 
must do exactly as he commands in all acts of 
ceremonial service. For instance, He told the 
Jews how to select the lamb for the passover, 
how and when it should be killed, what they 
must do with the blood and finally the very 
manner of eating it.” Exodus 12 : 12. 

11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your 
loins girded, your shoes on your feet, 
and your staff in your hand; and ye shall 
eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover. 

“Failing in any of these things, they suffered 
the consequences no matter how honest, earnest 
and conscientious they were in belief. 

God had a law (Numbers 4 : 15) that the 
Ark of the Covenant was not to be touched by 
the hand of mortal man except under certain 
prescribed conditions, but a man named Uzzah, 
who had it in his heart to honor God and render 
good service to Him, (not knowing about that 
Law) touched it and dropped dead. He was 
one of the drivers of the cart on which the Ark 


198 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


was being moved, and, it seems, might have 
been excused for merely touching it for the 
purpose of steadying it on the vehicle.” II 
Samuel 6 : 3-7. 

j 

V-. 3 And they set the ark of God upon a 

new cart, and brought it out of the house 
of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and 
Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, 
drove the new cart. 

4 And they brought it out of the house 
of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accom- 
panying the ark of God: and Ahio went 
before the ark. 

5 And David and all the house of Israel 
played before the Lord on all manner 
of instruments made of fir wood, even on 
harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, 
and on cornets, and on cymbals. 

6 U And when they came to Nachon’s 
threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand 
to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for 
the oxen shook it. 

7 And the anger of the Lord was 
kindled against Uzzah; and God smote 
him there for his error; and there he died 
by the ark of God. 

F “Notice the word ‘error’ in the 7th verse. 
No amount of honest, conscientious,, belief 
could convert that error into truth, hence he 
died in his honesty. That doctrine, taught by 
nearly all Methodist preachers, viz: — that any- 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


199 


thing is right if we conscientiously believe 

is one of Satan’s very best inventions for de- 
ception and ruin — dupes glide into it so easily, 
while thousands of good people prefer the deadly 
opiate of ‘honest belief/ in an error rather 
than take God’s book and do the labor necessary 
to a personal knowledge of the truth.” 

By this time all had retired from the dining- 
room except Capt. Carter, the landlady and an 
overgrown boy about sixteen years old, who 
was learning the harness-maker’s trade, but 
today (1900) is one of the best preachers and 
Christian workers in the South among the 
Baptists. 


200 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Thou art the Way; to thee alone, 

From sin and death we flee; 

And he who would the Father seek, 
Must seek him, Lord, by thee. 

Thou art the truth ; thy word alone, 
True wisdom can impart; 

Thou only canst inform the mind, 

And purify the heart. 

Thou art the Life; the rending tomb 
Proclaims thy conquering arm; 

And those who put their trust in thee, 
Nor death nor hell shall harm. 

Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life; 
Grant us that way to know, 

That truth to keep, that life to win, 
Whose joys eternal flow. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


George received instructions from his house to 
make a tour through Mississippi in the interest 
of the implement business, and was off in a few 
days on a trip, many parts of which had to be 
made by stage, there being no railroads. Two 
days out on the first part of the trip and the 
stage broke completely down, so they could not 
move at all, right in the middle of a swamp, 
while the rain was falling in torrents. A mom- 
ent’s reflection called to mind the fact that they 
had started on Friday, and in spite of his better 
judgment, he felt all broken up by that Friday 
foolishness, and for an hour or two he lived over 
again his dreadful experience in that hotel in 
— ville, Fla., the night he felt called on 


202 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


to give Hattie Gholston up the second time, and 
this time, as he thought, forever. 

With one wheel smashed down, the stagecoach 
was an unpleasant place to sit even for the sake 
of shelter from the rain, so they went out by 
the side of the road and the driver kindled a big 
fire out of rich pine limbs and knots, against 
an old pine stump. George's companion in 
travel had been a Lieutenant in the Fourth 
Georgia Infantry — Confederate army, but was 
then traveling for a house that sold engines, 
boilers, cotton gins and other things usually 
handled by such a house. The driver camped 
out often on these trips, and, therefore, was not 
wholly unprepared for this emergency as he had 
some bread, meat, ground coffee and a coffee 
pot. He had purchased a basket of eggs on the 
way which he promised to carry to a lady who 
kept a boarding house in the town ahead, so 
after all, both Capt. Carter and the Lieutenant 
had often been in a much worse fix. 

The driver went to get some water in his coffee 
pot from the ditch by the roadside, and returned 
with the water and a twenty-four pound shell 
that he had fished out of the ditch while filling 
his coffee pot. Dropping it on the soft earth 
with a heavy thud that vividly reminded both 
of the awful days through which they had 
passed, he asked: 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


203 


“ Which of you fellows wasted that load?” 

“It may not have been wasted in the sense 
in which you use the word ‘wasted/” said 
George. 

“It has evidently been shot from a cannon 
and there may be a home gloomy and hearts 
desolate somewhere, because of that very shot. 
It may have done its intended deadly work.” 

“If wasted at all, Capt. Carter's folks wasted 
it, for we did not use that kind of shell,” said 
the Lieutenant, and he and George went on 
with a conversation about the war that greatly 
relieved the gloomy state of mind into which 
Captain Carter had been thrown by their mis- 
fortune in travel. Strongly strapped to the 
rear of the stage coach, after the fashion of a 
wall-pocket, was a boot in which baggage was 
carried. This was made of wooden slats held 
together by small iron bars and it was about 
four feet square. When dinner was ready, the 
driver detached that boot, placed it on the top 
of a stump and covered it with an oil cloth used 
to protect the baggage, so that it looked, for 
all the world like a table. 

When about ready to begin eating, the Lieu- 
tenant drew from his grip a flask of fine whiskey 
and passed it to George, who modestly declined 
to drink. 

“Have some, Captain,” he urged. 


204 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“No, thank you. I gave God my vow that 
I would never touch another drop.” 

“Yes, but you did not know, when you did 
that, about this break-down in the swamp and 
dinner in the rain. It will do you good on a day 
like this,” said he, at the same moment pushing 
the bottle well towards Captain Carter. 

At that moment an explosion occurred which 
shook the very earth beneath their feet and 
threw the fire in every direction. One piece 
of that shell passing between the Lieutenant 
and Captain Carter, struck the lower end of that 
flask breaking it into a thousand pieces cutting 
the Lieutenant’s hand fearfully with the pieces 
of glass. The driver, who had turned his “grub 
box” on end and seated himself at the table, 
fell backwards for dead but was not injured in 
the least. He got up scratching the ashes out 
of his eyes and said: 

“Why, I just used that thing to lay along side 
of that rock to hold the bucket over the fire 
while boiling the eggs. I had no notion it would 
go off like that after lying in that water, maybe, 
four or five years.” 

George was on the point of yielding to the 
temptation when the shell burst, but neither 
of them ever tasted strong drink afterward. 
The Lieutenant always pointed to the scars on 
his hand and called them his temperance 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


205 


pledge, and the lameness in that hand constantly 
reminded him of his obligation. 

An empty hack returning from a trip, carried 
the two traveling men to the next town where 
George did a fine business. In fact he had 
wondrous success throughout the entire journey 
which ended at a town in Southern Mississippi, 
where he had been directed by his house to col- 
lect for goods already sold and sell, if possible, 
a big bill of shovels, spades, scrapers, wheel 
barrows, etc., to a construction company that 
was building a big levee, or preparing to build 
one nearby. 

He arrived in good shape, worked the town 
— selling and collecting to his own satisfaction 
— and drove out in a few days to the levee camp 
as the superintendent failed to come in as soon 
as he was expected. 

Mr. Overton, the superintendent, was glad 
to see him, wanted a big bill of goods at once, 
but would have to return with him to town and 
see the president of the construction company 
before giving the order. When they reached 
the town, George went at once to the post office 
and received a letter from home, containing one 
addressed to him. As he looked at the hand- 
writing his brain went into a whirl and he was 
not competent to do business that afternoon. 
He went to his hotel and read : 


206 


TWO OLD LETTERS 

“ ville/Fla., March 21, 1870. 

Capt. George Carter, 

Dear Friend.— —I have a diary which seems 
to have fallen out of your pocket when you 
visited our town. It contained two old letters 
of mine and a manuscript written by you on the 
‘Wonders of the Soul/ I have reason to believe 
you want the book and manuscript, and will 
send them if I ever learn where to address you. 

Respectfully, Hattie. 

The contents of this note seemed to creep 
into his being like a horrid night mare and 
threw him into an agonizing delirium in which 
the agitated soul, like a great psychological 
ocean threw up billows of sorrow, by which 
consciousness was overwhelmed and all power 
of thought swept into oblivion. 

He read and re-read the note, but saw nothing 
in it but a mere act of kindness he would have 
a right to expect from her, though she be the 
wife of another. 

“Confound it. Why didn’t she sign it Hattie 
Smith, or Jones or Brown? Then I would have 
known about it, but here I am all mixed up 
like a fool again.” 

She had worded her note so that no objection 
could be rightfully urged against it, if in the 
mean time he had married another, and re- 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


207 


solved to await future developments still lean- 
ing on ’Cinda’s prayers. 

Mr. Overton came around the next morning 
and found George so changed he hardly knew 
him. In fact, he did recognize him more from 
his dress than the expression of his face, which 
had changed since the evening before. After 
the ceremonies of the morning meeting, Mr. 
Overton said: 

“Mr. Carter, I fully intended to see you again 
last evening, but on arriving here I learned that 
our president was sick and could not be in the 
office. He is yet unable to leave his room and 
requested me to bring you around so that our 
order may go at once, for we shall need those 
things before we get them.” 

“ Thanks ! I shall be glad to meet your presi- 
dent, but Fm sorry, indeed to find him sick,” 
said George. “You have quite a little malaria 
in this low, warm country do you not?” he 
continued. 

“No; not much, especially this early in the 
season. Really I ought not to have said our 
president is sick, for he is not. He is suffering 
from the effects of an old wound received during 
the war.” 

During this and other conversations they 
were walking along the street in the direction 
of an elegant mansion where the president of 


208 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


the construction company boarded, and in a 
few moments Mr. Overton introduced Mr. 
Carter to Captain Gholston, president of the 
construction company. 

To say that George was paralyzed in body 
and mind and thrown into a wild delirium that 
clothed his whole being in dramatic frenzy, 
does not express half the truth. The situation 
was simply awful ! for he had all he could endure 
when he started up to see the president of the 
company (for whose name he had never thought 
for a moment to enquire;) and this new sur- 
prise burdened his staggering soul with a life-like 
picture of one of the most trying experiences 
of the Civil War, for, as a drowning man sees 
all of life in an instant, so he fought the entire 
battle of Stone River over again in less than a 
minute, but it seemed to require a week. 

As his blank gaze rested on Captain Gholston 
all those tender feelings connected with taking 
and returning the gold medal while Frank was 
his prisoner in that battle, possessed his being 
and he wept with a hysterical excitement 
known only to those who have seen a strong 
man lose every vestige of self control. 

His frenzied mind and bewildered imagina- 
tion reproduced that scene of blood so vividly, 
that it was all real to him again. He heard the 
roar of the cannons as they furnished the sub- 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


209 


base notes in that grand requiem of death set 
to the minor key by the hand of devastation and 
sorrow, while the Springfield rifles furnished, 
along with their leaden missiles, a highly- 
pitched accompaniment played in double quick 
time by the nimble fingers of wholesale des- 
truction. 

When Frank recovered from the shock, so 
that he could move, he took George by the hand 
and said: 

“Old boy, I thought I would meet you some 
day. I have one of those ten dollar bills you 
gave me the first and last time I ever saw you,” 
crying like a child. 

George awoke, as it were, and picked himself 
up immediately and replied: — 

“I had hoped, Captain, that it served you a 
better purpose than that merely of a relic.” 

“Oh it did! I took luxuries to the measure 
of every cent of it. But one day I was telling 
my nurse, who had the spending of it for me, 
about how I happened to get it and she brought 
back one of the bills and gave it to me as a keep- 
sake, and a keep-sake it has been.” 

This little conversation had the desired 
effect. It broke the ice and put them both at 
ease sufficiently to recognize and respect the 
presence of a third party — Mr. Overton, who 
from the start had gazed with mute astonish- 

( 14 ) 


210 


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ment surmising that there was much behind 
their strange conduct. 

A little explanation made all plain to Mr. 
Overton and he returned to the levee camp 
leaving George and Frank to make out the bill 
of goods. No; to put in the entire day talking 
over — well, everything that two old soldiers 
would naturally be interested in and that too 
with an additional link of peculiar interest 
binding them together. 

When the proper moment came, and he was 
not long bringing it around, George said: “ Cap- 
tain, I want to settle one question right now.” 

“Very well, what is it?” 

“Miss Hattie Gholston is your sister?” 

“Certainly,” with a peculiar smile. 

“Well, is she married?” 

“Not, unless it has occurred in the last two 
weeks, and I hardly think the old folks would 
let their old bachelor (referring to himself) 
or old maid off without, at least, letting all the 
children know.” 

George handed him the note he had received 
the evening before and explained the situation 
in detail, while Frank laughed ’till he forgot all 
about his old wound. 

The dinner bell cut matters short, and Frank 
led the way to an old-fashioned southern dining- 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


211 


room, elegantly furnished and arranged to suit 
the taste of one of the most cultivated families, 
where he introduced his Yankee friend and 
explained with much fervor their first meeting. 


212 


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ASK, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE. 

0 praying ones, who long have prayed, 
And yet no answer heard, 

Have ye been sometimes half afraid 
God might not keep His word? 

Seems prayer to fall on deafened ears? 
Does Heaven seem blind and dumb? 

Is hope deferred? Believe! believe! 
The answering time will come. 

“Ask what ye will,” His word is true, 
His power is all divine; 

Ye cannot test his love too far, 

His uttermost is thine; 

God does not mock believing prayer, 
Ye shall not go unfed: 

He gives no serpent for a fish, 

Nor gives He stones for bread. 

Thine inmost longings may be told, 

The hopes that turned to shame, 

The empty life, the thwarted plan, 

The good that never came. 

Say not, “The promise is not mine, 
God did not hear me pray; 

1 prayed — I trusted fully — but 
The grave hath barred the way.” 

God heard thee — He hath not forgot, 
Faith shall at length prevail, 

Yea, know thou not the smallest jot 
Of all his word can fail; 

Oh, if ye truly have believed, 

Not vain hath been thy prayer. 

As God is true, thy hope shall come, 
Some time — some way— somewhere. 


CHAPTER XX. 


Frank fully intended to run down home and 
spend a week or two recuperating just as soon 
as he felt able to travel, and now that he had 
providentially met one whom he had so long 
desired to see and one who was also interested 
in the trip, he made up his mind to be off at 
once. He disclosed his intention to Captain 
Carter, upon returning to his room after dinner 
and suggested that they get ready and be off 
at once on a local passenger train that would 
pass in less than two hours. He said : 

“Tomorrow is Saturday, and — ” 

“Well, stop right there.” said George, con- 
tinuing when he got Frank’s attention. “If 


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tomorrow is Saturday, necessarily today is 
Friday and I would not start today for the value 
of that bill of goods I sold your company.” 

“Do you believe in that Friday foolishness 
about bad luck?” said Frank with a skeptical 
twinkle in his eyes that made Captain Carter 
blush to the very root of every hair. 

“No, I don’t believe in any such nonsense, 
but I shall not start on Friday.” 

Then he proceeded to tell Frank all about his 
Friday experiences ’till he, (Frank) laughed 
himself sick again and could not have gone that 
afternoon, even if George had consented to un- 
dertake the journey with him. 

George resolved not to furnish all the fun 
with his Friday superstition without at least 
an effort to “play even” so he put Captain 
Frank on the witness stand, so to speak, and 
began to question him. 

“Do you believe in any of those old signs, 
for bad or good luck?” 

“Certainly not; and I do not see how any one 

can who has a thimbleful of” “Sense!” 

interrupted George . “No; I do not mean 

to put it so strongly as that, but I will say a 
thimbleful of philosophy.” 

“You are very kind,” said George and went 
on with his questions. 

“Did your mother believe in those old signs?” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


215 


“Yes, quite a little; and old Aunt ’Cinda, 
our ‘black mamma/ almost lives on signs and 
wonders, and what she feels in her bones. 
When we get down home she will tell you most 
likely, that she had a sign or feeling that you 
were coming. She has been feeding Hat — 
I mean my sister — on those signs and wonders 
and ‘feeling in her bones ’ ever since the first 
year of the war.” 

“Did you ever hear that it was bad luck to 
see the new moon through the brush of a tree 
or a shrub?” asked George. 

“Yes,” said Frank, “I have heard that bit 
of superstition all my life. 

At this juncture, a cultivated young lady 
who belonged in the home entered the room to 
bring a message from the superintendent of 
the levee camp to Captain Gholston. But 
before it was read, George explained the situa- 
tion and pressed his last question on Frank. 

“Now, Captain Gholston, of course I know 
you do not believe in signs, but do you ever 
move just a little to keep from seeing the new 
moon through brush?” 

“N — n — no. Oh! I may have done so when 
a child.” 

“Well, Captain Gholston!” exclaimed the 
young lady. “No longer since than yesterday 
evening you . asked me to bring your crutch 


216 


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and you moved clear off of the front porch to 
keep from seeing the new moon through those 
morning-glory vines and that maple-tree top 
that stands at the west side of the yard.” 

Then the laugh turned on Frank and he 
admitted a great truth that is moving the world 
today, viz: 

We unconsciously act according to our former 
training even after we have learned that our 
teaching was not correct, and on this account, 
people hold on to church doctrines when they 
know them to be untrue — they give them up in 
mind but move on as before. 

“Miss Edna, I see you and Captain Carter 
have combined against me, so I will turn him 
over to you and you can show him out to church 
tonight, while I rest up and get ready for my 
journey tomorrow. I guess he is not afraid to 
go to church on Friday night. You know a 
Mr. Carson from Tennessee is to preach one of 
those special sermons, and I am sure Captain 
Carter will enjoy it.” 

They went. He enjoyed it so much that he 
lingered behind and asked the preacher for the 
notes so that he might give the subject earnest 
and careful thought. 

Here are the elaborate notes: 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


217 


THE CHRISTIAN'S RELATIONSHIP TO 
THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. 

Text. — Col. 3 : 3. 

If we would learn the truth on any subject 
of a theological character, we must turn to that 
portion of God's word which proposes to discuss 
that particular doctrine. We must not pick up 
passages here and there used in discussing other 
subjects. 

If we would know certainly the relationship 
the Christian sustains to God's government, we 
must turn to that portion of His word which 
treats on that subject; 

And I wish here to say that no subject in the 
realm of Gospel instruction receives as much 
attention as this one. Eleven chapters are de- 
voted to it in the Book of Romans, and nearly 
the entire Book of Galatians. The other 
Pauline Epistles and the Book of Hebrews 
abound with it. 

The Attitude of the World. 

We will first notice the attitude of the world, 
and contrast it with the attitude of the Christian 
in the Government of God. 

God gave the world a law. Exodus 20:3-18. 
It was a perfect law, and if it had been obeyed 
jnan would have been absolutely perfect under 


218 


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its operation. But none obeyed it; hence all 
were condemned by it. Rom. 3:9. “For we 
have before proven both Jews and Gentiles, 
that they are all under sin.” 

Rom. 3:19-20. “Now we know that what 
things soever the law saith, it saith to them 
who are under the law: that every mouth may 
be stopped, and all the world may become guilty 
before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law 
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for 
by the law is the knowledge of sin.” 

The attitude of the world then is one of 
complete condemnation. It is condemned by 
a law that requires nothing but what is right 
at the hands of man — a law that would make 
the world perfect and man happy. This shows 
that the cause of condemnation is in the weak- 
ness of man and not in the unreasonableness 
of the demands of the law. Rom. 8 : 3. “For 
what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
through the flesh, God sending His own Son 
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con- 
demned sin in the flesh.” None, therefore, have 
gone or will go to Heaven from the realm of 
law, for the “Law worketh wrath.” During 
all the ages to come, unconverted men and 
women will be under this law and condemned 
by it as much as they were before the coming 
of Christ. He only takes those who believe in 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


219 


him out from under the law. This is a dark 
picture but let us turn on the light: — The 
Light of the World — in the use of one bold 
passage of Scripture: — Rom. 10:4. “For Christ 
is the end of the law for righteousness to every 
one that believeth.” 

The index finger of the law points to a system 
of perfect work and requires a perfect perform- 
ance of every man. Gal. 3 : 10. “For as many 
as are of the works of the law are under the 
curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that 
continueth not in all things which are written 
in the book of the law to do them.” All have 
sinned, hence are under this curse. Oh! the 
wretched situation! Yet if the law had been 
satisfied with less than perfect obedience, 
heaven would have been filled with imperfect 
persons, and would have been no better than 
earth in this particular. 

Grace points to the perfect work of Christ 
and asks every sinner to accept that as his 
own fulfillment of all that the law requires of 
him. When the law demanded perfection, 
Christ, our Redeemer, furnished it for us. When 
it demanded death/ he furnished that also. 
Oh! blessed situation! 

But how is this new relation brought about 
and what is the attitude of those who accept 
the perfect work of Christ? The 1st chapter and 


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17th verse of John will tell it all in less than one 
sentence. — “ Grace and truth came by Jesus 
Christ.” Add to this Ephesians 2 : 8 and we 
have it all — “For by grace are ye saved through 
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift 
of God: Not of work, lest any man should boast.” 

Law and work go hand in hand and simply 
reveal man’s weakness and condemnation. 
Grace and faith save him in utter helplessness, 
so that none can take credit to themselves in 
any degree whatever for being saved’ 

The law demands death as a penalty for its 
violation, and every sinner by his physical and 
eternal death meets its demand. But since the 
law is an INFINITE ONE, and the penalty 
an INFINITE PENALTY it requires an eternity 
in which to meet it. Eternal punishment, there- 
fore, is the logical consequence of its operation. 
Jesus furnished the law all it required of any 
one of Adam’s race in his death, and then arose 
from the dead and now lives to give that death, 
so to speak, to every sinner as a substitute for 
that sinner to put in the place of his own death, 
when the law demands its penalty. In conse- 
quence of this, Christ becomes every thing to 
us — our wisdom, our righteousness, our sancti- 
fication and our redemption. 1st Cor. 1 :30. 

When the Devil shakes the law at us and 
demands death as a penalty for our sins, we 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


221 


point him to 1st Corinthians 15:3. “ Christ 

died for our sins according to the scripture” 
and he has no more to say. He has nothing 
against us. 

But the Christian exclaims, Rom. 8:1-3. 
“There is therefore now no condemnation to 
them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not 
after the flesh but after the Spirit. For what 
the law could not do in that it was weak through 
the flesh. God sending his own son in the like- 
ness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin 
in the flesh.” 

The Christian’s Attitude. 

The attitude of the Christian is that of a dead 
man. Rom. 6:11. “Likewise reckon ye also 
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive 
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 
Gal. 2 : 20. “ I am crucified with Christ, never- 
theless I live; YET NOT I but Christ liveth 
in me.” Col. 3 : 3-4. “For ye are dead and 
your life is hid with Christ in God. When 
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall 
ye also appear with him in glory. 

There is no law in force against the Christian 
because he is taken from the realm of the law 
and put in the realm of grace where there is no 
law; and “Where no law is, there is no trans- 


222 


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gression.” Rom. 4 : 15. “For sin shall not have 
dominion over you; for ye are not under the 
law, but under grace.” Rom. 6 : 14. (Now 
if we are out from under the law and we are, 
if there is any truth in the Gospel) then Romans 
5 : 13, will further explain the situation: — 
“Sin is not imputed where there is no law.” 
It is not charged up to the believer. 

To Illustrate. 

*Mexico has a law by which a man is “ peoned ” 
(that is, made a slave) if he fails to pay his 
debts. If the man, upon learning his situation 
financially, gets out of Mexico and comes across 
the line into the United States, that law cannot 
touch him. He is out of the realm where it 
operates, and in a realm where there is no such 
law. 

Well, says one — In this realm of Grace occu- 
pied by the Christian, where there is no law to 
condemn, one can sin just as much as he pleases 
and yet remain a Christian uncondemned. 
Why, says he, “If I believed that, I would get 
converted and then sin as much as I pleased, 
and have a good time with the world generally. 
Friend, if that is your idea of a good time, you 
have never been converted. Some accused Paul 
of teaching this very doctrine and tried to make 

♦The peone law is now repealed 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


223 


it appear that he encouraged men in “Evil that 
Good may come.” Rom. 3 : 8. He guarded 
this point very carefully afterwards. See 
Romans 6 : 1-2. “Shall we continue in sin, 
that grace may abound? God forbid. How 
shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer 
therein?” Again Romans 6 : 15. “What, 
then? shall we sin, because we are not under 
the law, but under grace? God forbid.” 

There is but one way to get from under the 
law and get into the realm of grace where there 
is no law and that is by simply accepting Jesus 
Christ along with all that he has suffered and 
done for us. “For Christ is the end of the law 
for righteousness to every one that believeth.” 
Rom. 10 : 4. Gladly accept that one passage 
with a loving resignation to Jesus and you are 
saved this minute. Do you accept it right now? 
If not, why not, seeing that is all you have to 
do to be saved. 

When the sinner changes his place from the 
realm of the law, by accepting as just indicated, 
and gets into the realm of grace, we say he is 
converted and regenerated and this involves 
such a change in the sinner himself, that he 
does not sin willfully any more. His will is the 
very thing he has given up in conversion; hence 
that belongs to Christ and does not enter into 


224 


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sin when from force of circumstances he is led 
to do wrong. 

More than this, he is a double man now, for 
at this point a new creature comes into view 
and we see while looking at him with our mental 
and physical eyes, the outward and inward man : 
2nd Cor. 4 : 16. “For which cause we faint 
not; but though our OUTWARD man perish, 
yet the INWARD man is renewed day by day.” 
The OUTWARD man is born of the flesh — 
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” John 
3:6, and will never be wholly free from de- 
pravity and sin in this life. Paul says of us 
when we come to die: — 1st Cor. — 15 : 42. 
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is 
sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 

The INWARD man is born of the spirit; 
“That which is born of the spirit is spirit.” 
John 3 : 6, and will never sin. Listen at 1st 
John 4 : 9, where he says, “Whosoever is born 
of God doth not commit sin, for his seed re- 
maineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is 
born of God.” This is only true of the SPIRI- 
TUAL or INWARD man. The same writer 
Chapter 1 : 8, speaking of the OUTWARD man 
which is born of the flesh says, “If we say that 
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 
truth is not in us.” These two passages appear 
to contradict each other but are in perfect har-. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


225 


mony when the two-fold nature of the Christian 
is brought to view in God’s word, and we under- 
stand that in the first he speaks of the inward 
man while in the next he is speaking of the 
outward man. The apostle Paul makes this 
same distinction between the inward and out- 
ward man, and his personal experience j is a 
demonstration of the same truth. 

Rom, 7 : 18. “For I know that in me (that 
is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing; for to 
will is present with me; but how to perform that 
which is good I find not.” Verse 21: “I find 
then a law that when I would do good, evil is 
present with me.” Verse 22; “For I delight in 
the law of God after the inward man.” Verse 
23: “But I see another law in my members 
warring against the law of my mind, and bring- 
ing me into captivity to the law of sin, which 
is in my members.” Verse 24: “O wretched 
man that I am! who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death?” Verse 25: “I thank God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with 
the mind I myself serve the law of God; but 
with the flesh the law of sin.” The OUTWARD 
man is a sinner always but held in check by the 
INWARD man which is born of God and 
never sins. Gal. 5 : 17. “For the flesh lusteth 
against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ; 
and these are contrary one to the other: so 

( 15 ) 


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TWO OLD LETTERS 


that ye cannot do the things that you would.” 

I have already noted the fact that Christians 
are dead. They die in order that their relation- 
ship to the law of sin may cease and it is at this 
point in the progress of their religious experience 
that they are “buried with Christ in baptism,” 
and raised up to a new life. There is death and 
life in our conversion and there is burial and 
resurrection in our baptism. 

You will see from this, that our baptism con- 
tains in itself, lying between every act in its 
administration — the fundamental doctrines of 
salvation. It is suggestive of death, and help- 
lessness on account of death; of grace which 
deals only with helplessness, and of faith, in 
the subject, which leads him to trust himself 
wholly to the hands of another through an ordeal 
in which he can do nothing for himself. 

We do not attach enough importance ordi- 
narily to the death just mentioned. The abso- 
lute certainty of the new life — eternal life — 
is connected with this death. Rom. 8 : 36-39. 
Gal. 2 : 20. Col. 3 : 3-4. We become dead by 
accepting the death of Christ — believing that he 
really did die in our place. This death disqualifies 
us for saving ourselves. What can a dead man 
do? The law requires much doing. Rom. 2:13, 
and a dead man cannot do anything. Truly 
salvation is “Not of works lest any man should 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


227 


boast.” This death qualifies us for the realm of 
grace, for grace can only deal with helpless 
subjects. Grace only accepts helplessness; 
hence a man is never saved while he tries to 
do something to save himself. If grace only 
undertakes our salvation, in consequence of a 
helplessness, brought about by this death, then 

OUR HELPLESSNESS BECOMES THE BASE OF OUR 

hope, and grace will save every converted 
man and woman in this world, unless it be shown 
that we have the power to come to life from this 
death, upon which our salvation depends. We 
are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in 
God. Col. 3 : 2. Our salvation is LOCKED 
UP in this death and Jesus alone is the resur- 
rection, in every sense of the word. The attitude 
of the believer then is one of UNCONDITIONAL 
safety; his rewards, however, are conditional 
and may be small or great according to his 
faithfulness or unfaithfulness. And on this 
account we are admonished in many places in 
the scripture, to be faithful and take heed lest 
we fall into temptation, and not to return to 
the beggarly elements of the world, etc., but 
these things are never to set aside the positive 
utterances of Jesus. John 10:28. “And I 
give unto them eternal life; and they shall 
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them 
out of my hand.” If a man fall and is lost one 


228 


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week after conversion, then eternal life was of 
only seven days duration. Rom. 8 : 38. “For 
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, 
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things, present nor things to come, nor height, 
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord.” Our sins can easily 
separate us from the joy of salvation. Psalms 
51 : 12, and from our reward in heaven, but not 
from eternal life. I Cor. 5 : 4-5. 

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, when ye are gathered together, 
and my spirit, with the power of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

5 To deliver such an one unto Satan 
for the destruction of the flesh, that 
the spirit may be saved in the day of 
the Lord Jesus. 

Many Christians who sin — and all do sin — 
would repent at once if it were not for the false 
doctrine which leads them to think: “Well, 
I am back in the unsaved state on account of 
this sin and have to be converted over again, 
so I will just go on in this way till the next 
revival comes round.” To be sure they are in 
a bad fix as was David, BUT THEIR RELA- 
TIONSHIP to the family of God has not been 
changed. The whole INWARD man is starving 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


229 


for the bread of life. They are without joy of 
salvation, and their reward is diminishing 
every day. God says of such: Psalms 89 : 32. 
“Then will I visit their transgressions with the 
rod and their iniquity with stripes. Neverthe- 
less my loving kindness will I not utterly take 
from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.” 
Heb. 12 : 6-7-8. 


Reflections. 

1st. The Christian may know he is saved 
when he is willing to leave the matter of his 
salvation in the hands of Christ and is prompted 
from within to do the will of Christ the best he 
can. John 6:17. 

2nd. The modern holiness, or “second bless- 
ing” theory is unscriptural and is not true. 
I John 1 : 8. 

3rd. Salvation is not dependent on baptism 
because our death to sin and faith in Jesus 
Christ precede it, and these are the perfecting 
elements in salvation. 

4th. Our baptism is a burial in water be- 
cause nothing else will symbolize our death and 
the truth designed to be taught by baptism, viz : 
— Death — Resurrection. Rom. 6 : 2. 

5th. Ous salvation is eternally fixed because 
no element of opposition to it can come into 
our experience in the future that has not been 


230 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


considered and overcome at the time of our 
conversion, and we have been reckoned as dead 
ever since, and Christ is the life. 

6th. Good works, however great and numer- 
ous, do not save people nor do they have any- 
thing to do with keeping them in the saved state. 
But they are desirable to enrich the life, en- 
large the reward, and to furnish evidence of 
salvation, for they are the FRUIT of salvation 
and not the CAUSE. 

7th. The unsaved man or woman can do 
nothing at all acceptable to God (Repentance 
and faith are not works.) Hence, unconverted 
persons should sustain no relationship to the 
church whatever. None should receive the 
ordinance of baptism until they “Are dead 
and their lives are hid with Christ in God.” 
Then they shall be buried with Christ in Bap- 
tism, Colossians'2 : 12, [never before. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


When Captain Carter returned from church 
he found Frank reading, or rather thinking 
upon, the 5th chapter of I Corinthians. His 
mind was especially fixed on the 5th verse and 
he at once enquired: 

“ Captain Carter, do you believe in falling 
from grace and being finally lost after we are 
really converted — children of God?” 

“I really do not, though I'm connected with 
a church (so far as I have any church connection) 
that teaches it.” 

“ What church do you belong to?” 

*“ Really, I belong to none, but the Methodists 
got my name somehow on their book (mother 

♦George was fond of society from boyhood, and had grown 
into formal church work without perfecting his membership. 


232 


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says I was mistaken about being sprinkled when 
a babe) and they regard me a member. I have 
held all sorts of official positions until I am 
disgusted with their looseness. Any way, every 
way, or no way at all is a broadness too wide 
for the elasticity of my faith, and yet I go on 
in it just like you do — hunting for the new 
moon in a clear place when you know there is 
nothing to it.” 

“ What are your views on falling from grace?” 
asked Frank. “I am really interested on this 
subject.” 

“Samson fell and kept on falling,” replied 
George, “but he was not lost — that is, his soul 
was not lost. He was lost to his friends. They 
would have felt better if he had never been 
born. From a human standpoint he was lost 
to the cause of God, failed in his usefulness to 
man, and capped the climax of a life of dissipa- 
tion by suicide. God has to save some of His 
children by giving them over to Satan for the 
‘ destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be 
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.’ Please read 
those verses from the 5th chapter of I Corin- 
thians again, and we will see how He does it.” 
Fie read: 

1 It is reported commonly that there 
is fornication among you, and such for- 
nication as is not so much as named among 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


233 


the Gentiles, that one should have his 
father’s wife. 

2 And ye are puffed up, and have not 
rather mourned, that he that hath done 
this deed might be taken away from 
among you. 

3 For I verily, as absent, in body, but 
present in spirit, have judged already, 
as though I were present, concerning 
him that hath so done this deed. 

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, when ye are gathered together, 
and my spirit, with the power of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

5 To deliver such an one unto Satan 
for the destruction of the flesh, that 
the spirit may be saved in the day of the 
Lord Jesus. 

“That last verse settles it sure as fate.” 
said Frank. 

“Evidently this man was chastized and 
saved, but how do you know Samson was?” 
asked Frank, not being familiar with the 
scriptures. 

“Turn there to Hebrews 11 : 32 and you will 
find his name mentioned among those who 
were ‘saved’ by faith. One may fall and lose 
much but if he is a child of God his spirit will 
be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus. The Holy 
Spirit says so. 

Mr. Carson made that plain in his sermon 
tonight. I never saw it so clearly and felt 


234 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


such soul rest and comfort. I got his notes, 
and from them you will see that the ‘ outward ’ 
man’ and the ‘inward man’ are New Testament 
terms and form the key that unlocks, and opens 
up, the whole situation: Sin is never imputed 
to the ‘inward man’ after he is born of God.. 

I John 3 : 9. 

9 Whosoever is bom of God doth not 
commit sin; for his seeds remaineth in 
him: and he cannot sin, because he is born 
*“■ of God. 

Sin is always present with the ‘ outward man ' 
till he goes into death, hence death is a terror 
to all. I John 1 : 8-9-10. 

8 If we say that we have no sin, we 
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in 
us. 

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful 
and just to forgive us our sins, and 
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

10 If we say that we have not sinned 
we made him a liar, and his word is not 
in us. 

When you find passages of scripture that 
seem to teach that man is absolutely holy, sin- 
less, perfect, the writer has his minds eye on the 
‘inward man’ — the part that goes to Heaven. 
He, the ‘inward man’ — must be perfect. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


235 


The 'outward man’ doesn’t go to Heaven 
because the fragments of depravity are inter- 
woven with it from 'conception’ to the grave. 
'In sin did my mother conceive me.’ Psalms, 
51 : 5, Paul shows the condition of the 'outward 
man’ when we reach the grave and the change 
death makes on it to fit it for Heaven. I Corin- 
thians 15 : 42-43-44. 

42 So also is the resurrection of the 
dead. It is sown in corruption; it is 
raised in incorruption. 

43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in 
glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised 
in power: 

44 It is sown a natural body; it is 
raised a spiritual body. There is a 
natural body, and there is a spiritual 
body. 

You see, Captain Gholston, from Mr. Carson’s 
notes that it took a death and new life (which 
was followed by a burial and resurrection, in 
a figure — baptism) to prepare the 'inward man’ 
for heaven. Now, in order to prepare the 'out- 
ward man’ for heaven, there must be a death 
— a real, sure-enough death — followed by a real, 
sure-enough resurrection of a spiritual body 
free from sin. 

The death of the 'inward man’ and his resur- 
rection to 'walk in newness of life’ took every 


236 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


vestige of sin out. The inward man therefore 
‘ cannot commit sin;' and cannot be lost even 
when God delivers one to Satan for the destruc- 
tion of the -flesh or ‘ outward man/ as in the case 
of Samson, and the party mentioned in I Corin- 
thians 5 : 5. The devil influences God’s children 
wholly through the flesh which was begotten and 
born of earthly parents, but he cannot even touch 
the inward man who is begotten and born of 
God.” I John 5 : 18. 

18 We know that whosoever is born of 
God sinneth not; but he that is begotten 
of God keepeth himself, and that wicked 
one toucheth him not. 

Colossians 3 : 3-4. 

3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid 
with Christ in God. 

4 When Christ, who is our life, shall 
appear, then shall ye also appear with him 
in glory. 

“'Hid?’ Why hid? Where ‘hid/ and from 
whom? My soul is so hidden away in God that 
the ‘wicked one’ toucheth it not. He cannot 
even find me (my soul) because I am hidden 
away in the infinite realm of God’s boundless 
love; he cannot touch me because he cannot 
invade its sacred precincts. He can pull Christ 
away as easily as he can tear away my soul, 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


237 


because Christ is hidden ‘in God and I am hidden 
there in him. The devil will never see me — 
the ‘inward man’ — till I ‘appear with Christ 
in glory ’ and that will be too late for his wicked 
designs on my soul. ‘I’m hid/ 

He may touch the flesh just as he touched 
Job’s flesh, and play havoc with every earthly 
interest — at least for the time, and on this 
account we are admonished to watch, pray and 
work but the soul is already saved— ready for 
heaven; and the body — ‘outward man’ — will 
be when death performs the office God assigned 
it, in the plan for bringing man, soul and body, 
into the kingdom of heaven. 

Please turn to the 7th Chapter of Romans 
and read the last ten verses and we will get a 
full explanation of the two fold nature of man 
from God’s inspired teacher.” 

15 For that which I do I allow not: 
for what I would, that do I not: but what 
I hate, that do I. 

16 If then I do that which I would 
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 

17 Now then it is no more I that do 
it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 

18 For I know that in me (that is, in 
my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to 
will is present with me: but how to perform 
that which is good I find not. 

19 For the good that I would I do not: 
but the evil which I would not, that I do. 


238 TWO OLD LETTERS 


20 Now if I do that I would not, it is 
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth 
in me. 

21 I find then a law, that, when I 
would do good, evil is present with me. 

22 For I delight in the law of God 
after the inward man: 

23 But I see another law in my mem- 
bers, warring against the law of my mind, 
and bringing me into captivity to the 
law of sin which is in my members. 

24 O wretched man that I am! who 
shall deliver me from the body of this 
death? 

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. So then with the mind I 
myself serve the law of God; but with 
the flesh the law of sin. 


“The logic is this/’ said George. 

“The inward man never incurs guilt after 
‘the new birth/ and therefore is never lost.” 
John 3 : 5-6-7. 


5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say 
unto thee, Except a man be born of water 
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God. 

6 That which is born of flesh is flesh 
and that which is bom of the Spirit is 
spirit. 

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, 
Ye must be born again. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


239 


“The two fold man is brought to view in that 
sixth verse. 

(1) A flesh birth makes the outward man. 

(2) A spirit birth makes the inward man. 

The first being ‘ flesh and blood ' never goes 

to heaven till after the change made on it by 
death.” I Cor. 15: 

50 Now this I say, brethren, that 
flesh and blood cannot inherit the king- 
dom of God; neither doth corruption 
inherit incorruption. 

“The second has passed death already. The 
change has already been made. When the soul 
died to sin and was made alive unto holiness it 
passed into a changeless relationship to God's 
government hence never goes to hell.” 

At that point George turned to get his Bible 
from a grip and in doing so dropped his mothers' 
picture which was a mate to the one in the watch 
Uncle Jimmie had given Miss Hattie at his 
death. Frank recognized it instantly and asked: 

“Did you ever know Jimmie Malone?” 

“Was he an Irishman?” 

“Yes; one of the Simon-pure variety." 

“A sailor?” 

“Yes. I heard him say that his last voyage 
was made on the ‘ Martha M. Heath' with 
Captain C. C. Heath.” 


240 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Did he once live in New Orleans?” 

“Yes. He was there at the close of th. war.” 
George became serious as if in the very presence 
of death and felt assured that coming events 
were casting their shadows before. His mind 
ran back to that awful day when he woke to 
consciousness in a boarding house on Magazine 
Street in New Orleans, and saw Jimmie Malone 
with peach tree bush in hand watching at his 
bed side. He could see the old fashioned figures 
on the dingy wall paper and the broken plaster, 
on the ceiling overhead as plainly, it seemed, 
as if they were then before him. His mind 
staggered under the weight of feeling engendered 
by these memories and he felt reason waning 
as on that awful occasion, and before he was 
aware he found himself clutching at every 
tangible thing in reach to keep from being 
swept away into what seemed an awful abyss. 

With an almost superhuman effort, Captain 
Carter regained his composure enough to say : 

“Yes, I knew Jimmie and his picture is so 
indelibly fixed on the ‘tablets of enduring 
memory ’ that, when I come to die, I expect to 
see his form on one side of my bed and that of 
my mother on the other though the body of both 
may have lain in the grave for a score of years. 

I was practically dead, just as many young 
men die in boarding houses for want of a few 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


241 


rsai 

hours of vigorous attention at the right time, 
but that Irishman fought death back from me 
for seven days and nights when I could feel his 
cold, bony fingers grappling with the vital 
cords that bound my immortal spirit to this 
tenement of clay. From time to time I recovered 
sufficiently for thought to throw a flickering 
light in to the dark domain of my own sad soul 
and reveal my awful condition; and as the eye 
of expectation glanced toward the future only 
to behold a cloud of inpenetrable gloom whirled 
into wrathful convolutions by the raging storm 
of what seemed to be an angry Providence, I 
pleaded for the hasty approach of death to re- 
lieve me of life which had grown to be a superla- 
tive burden. But when I came to resign myself 
into the arms of fiery blackness held out for me 
by the King of Terrors to be borne off into the 
dark unknown without preparation to meet 
God in peace I could not get the consent of my 
mind to take the ‘leap in the dark’ and there I 
hung for days, not between hope and fear, for 
there was no hope, but between dread and terror. 
I grew colder and colder in spite of the hot bricks 
Jimmie had piled around me and he thought 
I would surely die. He fell on his knees and 
plead with the ‘ Holy Mother ’ (he was a Catholic) 
until I felt as if I must rally and live for his 
accommodation. He wanted the priest but 
(16) 


242 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


compromised by sending for a young Baptist 
preacher by the name of Seymour who gave me 
this Testament and these two tracts. The Tes- 
tament has been my salvation; the tracts have 
guided me in much thinking and I would not 
part from them for any consideration of an 
earthly character. 

But I want to ask you what you know about 
Jimmie? Where is he? Tell me all about him. 

“Well, Jimmie, by some strange providence, 
wandered into our home. He loved sister Hattie 
better than any person or thing on this earth 
and her devotion to him knew no limit. She 
gave up her position in school to nurse him in 
his last illness — .” 

“You don’t mean to say he is dead,” inter- 
rupted George. 

“Yes, he is dead; and when he came to divide 
his stuff (he called it administering on his estate) 
he gave sister a watch containing a mate to that 
picture which dropped from your Bible a 
moment ago and she recognized it instantly 
and learned from him all that you have just 
told me and much more. He left a tender mes- 
sage with sister for you in full confidence that 
some day you would come and get it, and died 
with her right hand on his brow clasping his 
left hand tightly in hers. He was the happiest 
mortal I ever saw, or expect to see this side of 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


243 


the shouting hosts on the hill tops of immor- 
tality. He verily believed that God sent him 
into our home to be nursed by sister and loved 
by her because of his care for you, after he found 
out that she had known you, and Fm inclined 
to believe he was right — .” 

“And Miss Hattie knows from him all about 
my trouble;” said George, trembling from head 
to foot and crying like a — I came near saying 
baby, but I will say crying like a man , for it is 
manly to cry when the soul is moved by a worthy 
sentiment and swells with overflowing emotion. 

“No, she does not. She only knpws about 
your sickness in New Orleans and why you gave 
Jimmie the watch but beyond that all is chaos 
to her. She knows there is some great misunder- 
standing somewhere and is simply dying by 
inches under the burdensome mystery.” 

By this time George had fallen into hysterical 
convulsions of laughter and tears — crying one 
moment, laughing the next. Mixing tears and 
smiles after the fashion of that strange mixture 
of joy and sorrow that had taken possession of 
his being as a result of this new disclosure. 


244 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


A Helping Hand. 

If I should see 

A brother languishing in sore distress, 

And I should turn and leave him comfortless 
When I might be 

A messenger of hope and happiness — 

How could I ask what I denied 
In my own hour of bitterness supplied? 

If I might sing 

A little song to cheer a fainting heart 
And I should seal my lips and sit apart, 

When I might bring 

A bit of sunshine for life’s ache and smart — 
How could, I hope to have my grief relieved 
If I kept silent when my brother grieved? 

And so I know 

That day is lost wherein I fail to lend 
A helping hand unto some wayward friend; 
But if it show 

A burden lightened by the cheer I sent, 

Then do I behold the golden hours well spent, 
And lay me down to rest in sweet content. 

— Edith V. Brand , in the Lutheran. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


Captain Carter and Frank Gholston put in 
most of the night talking, and the thrilling 
events of 1861 to 1865 received a full share of 
the time. Each had a profound respect for the 
other. It is always so with brave men who 
fight each other in any war. The ill-feeling that 
outlives the battle, and immediate strife, is 
found only in the hearts of those who are desti- 
tute of manhood and valor and were too cow- 
ardly to engage in actual combat. They are 
conscious of having done no service and feel 
called on to make a display somewhere, hence, 
vent their anger in words when the danger is 
all past. They had both seen the kind of service 


246 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


that “try men’s souls/’ and it was not necessary 
to fight the war over with their mouths like 
those who got to be captains of home-guard 
companies (they are called “generals” now) 
and murdered some old decrepit men in order 
that they might speak of blood, when they 
come to fight the war over in useless conversation 
in future years, to the disgust of all right-think- 
ing people. 

When about ready to start to Frank’s home 
next morning, Mrs. Stewart, the landlady, 
expressed hearty wishes for their comfort and 
a safe journey, to which Frank replied: 

“Thank you! The new moon is a little gone 
by, Friday is behind us for a week, and if we 
do not have to turn back for something or see 
a rabbit run across the road from right to left 
I think we shall get on nicely.” 

Captain Carter accepted Frank’s little jest 
without comment, and they hastened to the 
carriage, now, in waiting, to take them to the 
depot, for they had no time to spare. While 
snatching their grips and things from the 
vehicle upon reaching the station, Frank ex- 
claimed : 

“There ! Sure as fate! I forgot my little 
grip containing my medicines and will have 
to go back myself after it. Aunt ’Cinda would 
call that bad luck.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


247 


“Now, don’t lay your superstition off on 
’Cinda,” said Captain Carter. “I find you are 
just as full of it as anybody, and this should 
teach us a lesson, viz: We are influenced in 
business, politics, social life and religion by 
prejudices that have grown up in our being, 
after we see and know there is not a sha- 
dow of reason for their existence or truth in 
them.” 

Captain Carter’s observation here is worthy 
of serious thought. The writer is 51 years 
old, and yet when Hallowe’en night comes 
around each year, the cold chills crawl up his 
spinal column after sun-down on account of 
those Scotch witch tales told by his grand- 
parents. There are thousands of Catholics who 
have come to know that it is a sin to trust things 
so purely earthy, and yet they will pay a nickle 
for a little rag called a “scapula” that looks 
very much like a pen-wiper, and pay the priest 
to bless it, after which they wear it around the 
neck to secure them against danger. It is a 
“ burning shame ” that so many religious teachers 
of the present day disregard principle upon 
which moral and intelligent beings should act 
and appeal to feelings aroused by family ties, 
and prejudices awakened by early influences 
to secure deaf, dumb and blind adherence to 
their man-made systems. Matt. 23 : 15. 


248 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


15 Woe unto you, scribes and Phari- 
sees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and 
land to make one proselyte, and when 
he is made, ye make him twofold more 
the child of hell than yourselves. 

It is a source of pain and regret to all right- 
thinking people to see persons “railroaded ” 
into church organizations by improper motives 
merely to enlarge the membership and increase 
the social and financial interests of the congre- 
gation. 

A delay of fifteen minutes in the arrival of the 
train gave Frank time to drive back and get 
his medicines and some papers which he had 
forgotten also, and return in time for the journey 
which seemed to George to be the most impor- 
tant of his life without any exception. 

A “few hours run” without hitch or accident 
brought them to their destination where in a 
few moments, a buggy was procured and George 
Carter found himself driving in the direction of 
Squire Gholston’s residence with Frank at his 
side well-wrapped in a laprobe looking for all 
the world just like a sick man. This condition of 
things misled Hattie and she became possessed 
of one thought only as they approached, viz.: 
That Frank had grown worse and had run in 
home for nursing and medical attention. She 
at once concluded that the man with him must, 
of necessity, be some one who worked about 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


249 


the livery stable and gave him no attention 
whatever but ran to her brother all excited and 
exclaimed : 

“ Brother Frank, are you very sick, dear? You 
have come so unexpectedly ! ” 

Ordinarily Frank was equal to any sort of 
an emergency, but this time he knew too much 
and his soul was in a strange quiver over the 
revelation that must follow in a moment. It 
was his custom to make a joke of everything and 
especially all that pertained to love and court- 
ship, but this time he broke down and began to 
cry like a baby. This further misled Hattie and 
she regarded him very sick and ordered the 
supposed livery stable man to get out and help 
her get him into his room. 

Both men sat motionless and speechless until 
the situation became literally awful, and Hattie 
once more spoke to the driver and requested his 
assistance in getting her brother to his room. 
Her attention was then directed to the man 
who held the lines and she found herself looking 
Captain George Carter full in the face. She was 
not of the fainting sort, and if she had been, 
George was up in the buggy and she could not 
have fallen into his arms so she just extended 
her hand to Mr. Carter, laid her head down on 
her brother Frank's lap, he bending forward 
over her and the three sobbed in silent joy until 


250 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Mrs. Gholston came out and pulled them all apart 
to ascertain the cause of the strange procedure. 

Miss Hattie and Captain Carter were alone in 
the parlor in a very short time, where everything 
was explained and arrangements made for a 
quiet little wedding four days later, when they 
began life anew with bright hopes before them. 
If possible, ’Cinda was the happiest one in the 
entire household, while Hattie kissed her old 
black face and said: 

“Aunt ’Cinda, ‘the feeling in your bones ’ 
was a real prophecy after all.” 

Dr. Dunn was their pastor yet and was called 
on to officiate. He had forgotten Hattie’s 
views on joining the church and said: 

“Now, Miss Hattie, you want to get Captain 
Carter into the church at once while you have 
him under your influence.” 

Her eyes flashed with indignation bordering 
on anger as she replied : 

“Dr. Dunn, is it a fact that Methodist 
preachers never think of principal in their 
efforts to secure members? Does a low, mean, 
motive serve just as well as a high and lofty 
purpose when it answers your desire and gets 
one more member? 

I would heartily despise Mr. Carter if he were to 
throw away all principle and join the church to 
please me, or even if he were to join the church 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


251 


of his choice merely because a new wife requested 
it. I have a higher respect for him and certainly 
a higher regard for religion than you think. 
Your request, Mr. Dunn, falls just a trifle short 
of an insult. I long to see the day when Metho- 
dists will not stoop to such motives to secure 
members, for one who joins from such unworthy 
motives will necessarily esteem his membership 
lightly.” 

Pressing business compelled only a short visit 
to Pennsylvania and a return to the South 
where they have since lived. 


252 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Three Words of Strength. 

There are three lessons I would write. 

Three words as with a burning pen, 

In tracings of eternal light 
Upon the hearts of men: 

Have Hope. Though clouds environ round. 

And Gladness hides her face in scorn, 

Put off the shadow from thy brow, 

No night but hath its morn. 

Have Faith. Where’er thy bark is driven, 
The calm’s disport, the tempest’s mirth 
Know this, God rules the host of Heaven, 

The inhabitants of earth. 

Have Love. Not love alone for one; 

But man, as man, thy brother call, 

And scatter, like the circling sun, 

Thy charities on all. 

Thus grave these lessons on thy soul, 

Hope, Faith and Love, and thou shalt find, 
Strength when life’s surges rudest roll, 

Light when thou else wert blind. 

— Johann C. F. Schiller. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


Two years, nearly, of perfect happiness passed 
without events calling for ‘attention in this con- 
nection. At the end of this period, George 
Carter, Jr., came into the family, bringing new 
joys and responsibilities to the happy parents. 

Hattie and George had gone on regularly 
to the Methodist cliruch since their marriage 
each supposing the other perfectly satisfied with 
its doctrines, and each willing to sacrifice much 
personal opinion rather than antagonize the 
other, Till the new preacher pressed on them the 
duty of having George Carter, Jr., sprinkled. 

Captain Carter resolved not to have the new 
baby boy sprinkled, and, desiring not to an- 
tagonize his wife, he began to work schemes for 


254 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


delay. Mrs. Carter was in exactly the same 
state of mind, though her feelings were not known 
to her husband, and therefore, it was an easy 
matter to find excuses for deferring the “great 
duty”, as the preacher called it, ’till he felt 
called on to preach a sermon on the subject for 
the benefit of several families who were living 
in neglect of this obligation. 

He admitted in the outset that infant baptism 
was not mentioned in any manner whatever 
in the New Testament or practiced by Christ or 
the Apostles or the early Christains, but that 
Mr. Wesley and other wise preachers had incor- 
porated it into the Methodist church and the 
“vow” of every Methodist hung like a mill- 
stone about his neck until this duty was per- 
formed. 

He went on to show that Adam’s children 
were with him in the Edenic Church, Abraham’s 
children were with him the Abrahamic Church, 
and the Jewish Church took the children in at 
eight days old. This was a telling argument on 
the audience and in the midst of tears two 
babies were impulsively carried forward for that 
sacred (?) rite, while Captain Carter sat motion- 
less as a statue with George, Jr. in his arms in 
the old village church. 

Upon their return home, Mrs. Carter said: 

“Mr. Carter, I wish you would take that Bible, 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


255 


turn to the index and find all the verses that 
mention, in any way, the Edenic, Abrahamic 
and Jewish Churches so that we can study them 
immediately after dinner, for I just cannot wait.” 

“It is no use, dear,” replied George, “for I 
have looked time and again for these institutions 
and they are not there.” 

„ “Do you mean to say that one of our intel- 
ligent preachers will make more than half of his 
sermon out of imaginary church organizations 
that never had the semblance of existence?” 

“I only mean to say that the scripture, in 
no way hints at an ‘ Edenic ', ‘Abrahamic/ 
or ‘ Jewish ' church, yet when one of our preachers 
makes a sermon on infant baptism it is prin- 
cipally built on these imaginary organizations.” 

“Shall we have the baby sprinkled?” asked 
Mrs. Carter with much feeling. 

“Not 'till we see some scripture for it, 
replied he, with his usual emphasis. 

“You'll never see one verse that remotely 
hints at it,” said Hattie, “for I have read the 
Old and New Testaments through, pencil in 
hand, hunting for even a hint and failed to find 
one.” 

At this point each became acquainted with 
the other's views on church doctrine, and found 
that their investigations had been strangely 
directed along the same lines with similar results 


256 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


but strangely enough they quietly went along in 
the Methodist Church for four more years 
utterly repudiating almost everything taught 
and practiced by that organization. 

In the meantime, Mr and Mrs. Carter planned 
a trip to Pennsylvania, which combined business 
with pleasure in regular yankee fashion, and 
they were soon off for Memphis, Tennessee, 
where George had to adjust some accounts 
with a firm that had failed in business while 
holding, on consignment, some of his goods. 

They registered for a few days at the old 
Gayoso Hotel, and in full view of their window 
stood a saloon kept by the very man who owned 
the one in which George had formerly worked 
four days as porter. 

Seeing an old man hobbling in the direction 
of the saloon, having familiar look and move- 
ment, George called the attention of Mrs. 
Carter to his dress, manner and appearance. 
They walked down and crossed the street and 
met him on his return. He was clothed in rags; 
crutch under one arm and stick in the other hand 
black and dirty with his haggard face and blood 
shotten eyes all testifying to his life of abandon- 
ment and dissipation. He was not the man 
George expected to meet, but proved to be one 
whom he was glad to see and to whom he readily 
introduced Mrs. Carter, viz : Major Safhn. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


257 


He insisted on telling them of his misfortunes, 
but George stopped.him by saying: 

“Major, I know by 'personal experience that 
one word will tell it and that word is 1 drink/ 
You are mistaken about the last time you saw 
me;" said George, in reply to a remark of the 
major’s. “The last time you saw me, I was 
porter in the old saloon down by Mrs. Cafrey’s 
boarding house but that very day I stepped 
down and out of that service, lest you should rec- 
ognize me the next time you came, and because 
I saw that I was headed for ruin.” 

Mrs. Carter was holding their second baby 
boy in her arms. The old man patted his tender 
face, and said: 

“Is it possible, I was ever innocent like that 
babe?” 

Captain Carter, filled with a strange mixture 
of sadness and joy, quickly replied: 

“Yes, major, and may be again,” taking from 
his vest pocket some references that helped him 
when in the same fix. 

Rev. 7 : 14. 

14 These are they which washed their 
robes and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb. 

Isa. 1 : 18. 

18 White as snow. 


( 17 ) 


258 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Psalms 2:7. 

7 Whiter than the snow. • 

Rev. 3 : 4. 

4 They shall walk with Me in white. 

I Thes. 4 : 17. 

17 And so shall we ever be with the 
Lord. 

I John 1 : 7. 

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is 
in the light, we have fellowship one with 
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ 
his son cleanseth us from all sin. 

These scriptures worked a miracle in the old 
man’s life. He gave his heart to God, left off 
the habit that had made a total wreck of his 
earthly life and waited in joyous expectation 
’till death relieved him of a miserable existence 
on this earth. Truly “the mercy of God is past 
finding out.” 

They stopped at several West Tennessee 
towns and landed at Dyersburg for a Sunday 
layover, and hearing of an association a few 
miles in the country, concluded to drive out and 
see how the Baptists did things. A young 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


259 


preacher by the name of *J. G. Doyle (now 
1901), Secretary S. S. Work, Argenta, Ark., 
preached at 11 a. m., and his sermon was the 
“last feather ” for Mr. and Mrs. Carter, for im- 
mediately after their return to the south, they 
joined the Baptist Church and were baptized. 
Squire Gholston, now an old man, was baptized 
on the same day while every body conceded 
’Cinda the right to walk up and down the creek 
bank and shout for joy. 


♦The following is a copy of the old manuscript used on that 
memoriable occasion by Mr. Doyle and furnished by him for this 
book, 


260 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


My Awakening. 

I dreamed I heard the suffering Savior say 
To him who pierced him with a Roman dart, 
‘‘Didst thou but know, there is a nearer way 
Unto my heart.” 

And straight the arrow of conviction flew 
Into my heart, and scales fell from my eyes, 
And in a moment I those secrets knew 
Hid from the wise. 

To love and not to hate; to give, not gain; 

To seek no more to rule, but to obey, 

And gladly for his sake to suffer pain: 

This is the way. 

— Alexander Small. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


261 


John 17 : 20-21. 

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them 
also which shall believe on me through their 
word; 

That they may be all one; as thou, Father, 
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 
one in us; that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me. 

The subject that I have for discussion this 
morning, is to my mind, one of very great 
importance. 

I am to talk to you about “ Christian Union.” 
What I mean by Christian Union is that kind 
of union for which our Savior prayed as re- 
corded in my text. “That they all may be one; 
as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that 
they also may be one in us : that the world may 
believe that Thou hast sent me.” 

I will state the proposition in these words: 

1. It is the Will of Christ, Our Savior, That all 
His People be One. 

There are many reasons why Christians 
should be united, but to my mind, no reason 
should have greater weight than the fact that 
Jesus would have it so. He not only prays for 
it in my text, but in the 10th chapter and 16th 
verse of John he says positively it shall be so. 
“And other sheep I have which are not of this 
fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear 


262 


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my voice; and there shall be one fold and one 
shepherd.” 

It is sad to see the Christian world divided. 

It is a sadder sight to see them arrayed against 
each other, wasting precious time and much 
energy that ought to be spent in the great battle 
against sin. 

God knew there would be evils enough in 
the world to fight and sin enough to be over- 
come, to require all our time and all our force 
without wasting precious time and losing golden 
opportunities fighting and contending against 
each other. I feel like calling on this great 
audience today (especially all who believe on 
the dear Savior and are children of His) to go 
with me helping to bring about an answer to this 
lingering prayer. 

The Christian world, divided and warring, 
with each other, is a sad picture, especially if 
we look on the dark side of it. It looks like the 
fulfillment of our Savior’s words: “ Think 
not that I am come to send peace on earth; I 
came not to send peace, but a sword.” Our 
sword, however, is the “ Sword of the Spirit” 
and we are to use it. “Not against flesh and 
blood, but against principalities, against power, 
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 
against spiritual wickedness in high places.” 
Jesus would not have us divided and contending 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


263 


against each other. No, rather he would pray 
that we might be one. 

I shall try to look on the brighter side of this 
picture today. Let us take the most hopeful 
view of the situation. 

Of course, I speak only of Evangelical Chris- 
tians — those who believe in the regeneration 
taught in the Bible, when I say the indications 
are hopeful and we are nearer one than 
we have been taught to believe. We 
are not so far apart as many would have us 
believe. I believe that an impartial investiga- 
tion will reveal the agreeable fact that we are 
much nearer together than we have ever been 
taught to believe ourselves. 

I am going to make the astonishing statement 
that we are separated only by non-essentials. 
That the things which divide us and keep us 
apart are things which we, ourselves, admit to 
be of no essential importance. 

I am going to submit a proposition upon 
which I believe we can unite and no one shall 
make any sacrifice or lose anything except it be 
something which he himself admits to be a 
Non-essential. 

About the great essential elements in our 
religion we are not divided. It is the non- 
essentials that keep us apart. Let us throw 
these non-essentials, to the moles and bats. 


264 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Why should I cherish and hold to an article 
in my creed which causes division and strife 
among God’s people, if I admit myself that it 
has no essential importance? I make no sacri- 
fice and I lose nothing that is of any worth to 
me, when I throw, it away. 

You may think it strange but it is true, 
nevertheless, if we will throw away the dividing 
elements in our religion, which we, ourselves, 
admit to be non-essential, we will be together 
and our Savior’s prayer will be answered: 
“Father, make them one.” I said when we 
come to the essential elements in our holy 
religion we are not divided. We can every one 
subscribe to, and do subscribe to, every article 
in each other’s creeds which we ourselves be- 
lieve to be essential to our salvation. 

Let us then, throw away the elements which 
divide us, provided we, ourselves, admit them 
to be non-essentials. 

There are a great many things about which 
we all agree, and which we all believe and there 
are some things about which we do not agree. 

I believe the things about which we agree are 
the essentials and the things about which we 
differ are the non-essentials. Let us see. 

1. We agree about the scriptures. 

We believe that the Holy Bible was written 
by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


265 


treasure of heavenly instruction: that it has 
God for its author, salvation for its end, and 
truth without any mixture of error for its 
matter; that it reveals the principles by which 
God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall 
remain to the end of the world, the true center 
of Christian union, and the supreme standard 
by which all human conduct, creeds, and 
opinions should be tried. 

2. We agree about the TRUE GOD. 

We believe that there is one, and only one, 
living true God, an infinite, intelligent Spirit, 
whose name is Jehovah, the Maker and Su- 
preme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly 
glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible 
honor, confidence and love; that in the unity 
of the Godhead there are three persons, the 
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; equal in 
every divine perfection, and executing distinct 
but harmonious offices in the great work of 
redemption. 

3. We agree about the FALL OF MAN. 

We believe that man was created in holiness 
under the law of his Maker; but by voluntaty 
transgression fell from that holy and happy 
state; in consequence of which all mankind are 
now sinners, not by constraint but choice; 


266 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


being by nature utterly void of that holiness 
required by the law of God, positively inclined 
to evil; and therefore under just condemnation 
to eternal ruin without defense or excuse. 

4. We agree about THE WAY OF SALVA- 
TION. 

We believe that the salvation of sinners is 
wholly of grace; through the meditorial offices 
of the Son of God; who by the appointment of 
the Father freely took upon him our nature, 
yet without sin, honored the divine law by his 
personal obedience, and by his death, made a 
full atonement for our sins; that having risen 
from the dead he is now enthroned in heaven; 
and uniting in his wonderful person the tenderest 
sympathies with divine perfections, he is every 
way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate, 
and all-sufficient Savior. 

5. We agree about JUSTIFICATION. 

We believe that the great Gospel blessing 
which Christ secures to such as believe in him is 
Justification; Justification includes the pardon 
of sin, and the promise of eternal life on prin- 
ciples of righteousness; that it is bestowed, not 
in consideration of any works of righteousness 
which we have done, but solely through faith in 
the Redeemer’s blood; by virtue of which faith 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


267 


his perfect righteousness is freely imputed to 
us of God ; that it brings us into a state of most 
blessed peace and favor with God, and secures 
every other blessing needful for time and eter- 
nity. 

6. We agree about the FREENESS OF 
SALVATION. 

We believe that the blessings of salvation 
are made free to all by the gospel; that it is 
the immediate duty of all to accept them by 
cordial, penitent and obedient faith; and that 
nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest 
sinner on earth but his own inherent depravity 
and voluntary rejection of the gospel; which 
rejection involves him in an aggravated con- 
demnation. 

7. We agree about REGENERATION. 

We believe that, in order to be saved, sinners 
must be regenerated or born again; that regene- 
ration consists in giving a holy disposition to 
the mind; that it is effected, in a manner above 
our comprehension, by the power of the Holy 
Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to 
secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; 
and that its proper evidence appears in the holy 
fruits of repentance and faith and newness of 
life. 


268 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


8. We agree about REPENTANCE AND 
FAITH. 

We believe that Repentance and Faith are 
sacred duties, and also inseparable graces 
wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit 
of God; whereby, being deeply convinced of our 
guilt, danger and helplessness and of the way 
of salvation by Christ, we turn to God with 
unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplica- 
tion, for mercy; at the same time heartily 
receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, 
Priest and King, and relying on him alone as 
the only and all-sufficient Savior. 

9. We agree about GOD’S PURPOSE OF 
GRACE. 

We believe that Election is the eternal pur- 
pose of God, according to which he graciously 
regenerates, sanctifies, and saves sinners; that 
being perfectly consistent with the free agency 
of man, it comprehends all the means in connec- 
tion with the end; that it is a most glorious 
display of God’s sovereign goodness, being in- 
finitely free, wise, holy, and unchangeable; 
that it utterly excludes boasting and promotes 
humility, love, prayer, praise, trust in God, and 
active imitation of his free mercy; that it en- 
courages the use of means in highest degree; 


TWO OLD LETTERS 269 

that it may be ascertained by its effects in all 
who truly believe the gospel; that it is the 
foundation of Christian assurance; and that to 
ascertain it with regard to ourselves demands 
and deserves the utmost diligence. 

10. We agree about ^SANCTIFICATION. 

We believe that sanctification is the process 
by which according to the will of God, we are 
made partakers of his holiness; that it is a pro- 
gressive work; that it is begun in regeneration 
and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers 
by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, 
the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use 
of the appointed means, especially the word 
of God, self-examination, self-denial, watch- 
fulness, and prayer. 

11. We agree about THE PERSEVERANCE 
OF SAINTS. 

We believe that such only are real believers 
as endure unto the end; that their persevering 
attachment to Christ is the grand mark which 
distinguishes them from superficial professors; 
that a special Providence watches over their 
welfare; and that they are kept by the power of 
God through faith unto salvation. 

♦This sermon was preached before the modern sanctification 
theory sprang up in the Methodist denomination. 


270 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


12. We agree about THE HARMONY OF 
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. 

We believe that the Law of God is the eternal 
and unchangeable rule of his moral government; 
that it is holy, just, and good; and that the ina- 
bility which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen 
men to fulfill its precepts arises entirely from 
their love of sin; to deliver them from which, 
and to restore them through a Mediator to un- 
feigned obedience to the holy Law, is one great 
end of the gospel, and of the means of grace 
connected with the establishment of the visible 
church. 

13. We agree about A GOSPEL CHURCH. 

We believe that a visible church of Christ 
is a congregation of baptized believers, asso- 
ciated by covenant in the faith and fellowship 
of the gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; 
governed by his laws; and exercising the gifts, 
rights, and privileges invested in them by his 
word; that its only scriptural officers are Bishops, 
or Pastors, and Deacons, whose qualifications, 
claims and duties are defined in the epistles to 
Timothy and Titus. 

14. We agree about the CHRISTIAN SAB- 
BATH. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


271 


We believe that the first day of the week is 
the Lord's Day or Christian Sabbath; and is 
to be kept sacred to religious purposes, by 
abstaining from all secular labor and sinful 
recreations; by the devout observance of all 
means of grace, both private and public; and 
by preparation for that rest that remaineth 
for the people of God. 

15. We agree about CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

We believe that civil government is of divine 
appointment, for the interests and good order 
of human society; and that magistrates are to 
be prayed for, conscientiously honored and 
obeyed; except only in things opposed to the 
will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only 
Lord of the conscience and the Prince of the 
kings of the earth. 

16. We agree about THE RIGHTEOUS 
AND THE WICKED. 

We believe that there is a radical and essential 
difference between the righteous and the wicked 
that such only as through faith are justified in 
the name of the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by 
the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in his 
esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence 
and unbelief are in his sight wicked, and under 


272 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


the curse; and this distinction holds among men 
both in and after death. 

17. We agree about THE WORLD TO 
COME. 

We believe that the end of the world is ap- 
proaching; that at the last day Christ will 
descend from heaven, and raise the dead 
from the grave to final retribution; that a 
solemn separation will then take place; that 
the wicked will be adjudged to endless punish- 
ment, .and the righteous to endless joy; and 
that this judgment will fix forever the final 
state of men in heaven or hell, on principles 
of righteousness. 

Now I submit that there is not an essential 
feature in the foregoing statements of belief, 
which we cannot and do not all believe, and to 
which we cannot most heartily subscribe. 

The denomination to which a preacher belongs 
would not be known from a sermon he would 
preach embracing his belief of any of these 
essential features. Especially is this true of 
Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Con- 
gregationalists. Do you know, my friends, 
why we all agree so nearly on all these points? 
It is because they are of essential importance. 
We do not quarrel over the essential features 
in religion. It is the non-essentials that divide 
us and keep us divided. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


273 


There are some things, however, about which 
we do not agree. But I believe a careful exami- 
nation of these “ points of difference” will reveal 
the fact that we, ourselves, do not regard them as 
of any essential importance. I submit that there 
is not a single article that stands as a dividing 
element in any of our creeds which we, ourselves, 
will claim to be essential to the soul's sal- 
vation. 

The manifest duty of every one of us then, 
is to throw the non-essentials to the moles 
and bats and cease to wrangle over things 
which we, ourselves, do not claim to be essential. 
We cannot afford to sacrifice a principle. If 
there are “points of difference” that either of 
us regard as essential to salvation we ought not, 
and cannot afford, to throw them away. But 
if I hold to an article of belief, about which I 
know God's people are divided, and I know it 
prevents Christian Union, and helps to keep 
God's children apart and I admit myself that 
it is a non-essential, I do maintain that it is my 
duty to throw it away. 

Let us, then, look at some things about which 
we do not agree. If they are essential let us 
hold to them, if they are non-essentials let us 
throw them away. 

1. We differ about baptism. 

(18) 


274 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Now let us examine this subject, and if there 
is anything about which we differ, if it is essential 
let us hold to it, if non-essential let us throw it 
away. 

We do not differ about immersion. No denomi- 
nation of Christians denies that immersion is 
baptism. We all believe, receive and practice 
it. It is found in all our Articles of Faith, 
Disciplines, Creeds, and Confessions of Faith. 
Admitted by all, and denied by none. To hold 
to immersion, therefore is no sacrifice to any. 
To throw it away would be a sacrifice upon the 
part of those who believe it to be essential to 
baptism and we do not ask any one to throw 
away that which he regards as essential. 

2. We differ about Sprinkling and Pouring. 

I grant that here is an honest difference, 
that the man who believes that baptism may 
be administered by sprinkling or pouring, is 
just as honest as the man who believes in 
exclusive immersion. But no man believes that 
either sprinkling or pouring is essential to bap- 
tism. All agree that baptism may be rightly 
administered by immersion. Therefore the man 
who believes in sprinkling and pouring does not 
believe it to be essential either to salvation or to 
baptism, as men are saved without baptism and 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


275 


baptism may be administered without sprinkling 
or pouring. 

Now as those who hold to sprinkling and 
- pouring admit that neither is essential, either 
to salvation or to baptism, let’s throw sprinkling 
and pouring away, which leaves us united on 
immersion, about which we are all agreed. 

3. We differ about Infant Baptism. 

We do not differ about Believer’s Baptism. 
We all agree that believer’s baptism is taught 
in the Bible. We may, therefore, retain be- 
liever’s baptism, since it is an article about 
which we do not differ but a point upon which 
we all agree. 

We differ about infant baptism, and here, 
too, I grant, is an honest difference. I grant 
that the man who holds to infant baptism 
(although he knows he never saw it) honestly 
believes it is taught in the Bible. He is honest 
in the opinion that he can explain it to his own 
satisfaction, if not to the satisfaction of those 
who hear him. 

But when he has made his strongest argument 
and preached his biggest sermon, he, himself, 
admits that infant baptism is a non-essential. 
Our Methodist and Presbyterian brethren, 
while the doctrine of baptismal regeneration 


276 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


to infants may be taught in their standards do 
not believe that the salvation of their infant 
children, in any way, depends upon their being 
baptized. They have outgrown their standards. 

Since infant baptism divides us and keeps 
us divided, and inasmuch as those who hold 
and practice it admit that it is a non-essential 
let us throw infant baptism away. This will 
leave us only believer’s baptism, which we all 
believe is taught in the Bible and about which 
we are all agreed. 

This would require the sacrifice of no principle 
and no one is called upon to give up anything 
except it be something which he, himself, admits 
to be a non-essential. 

4. We differ about Falling from Grace. 

I am not here to call in question the integ- 
rity of the man who does not believe as I do. 
I would not impeach the honor or speak lightly 
of the sincerity of the man whose opinion is 
different from mine; but I do maintain that if 
I hold an opinion that causes division and 
strife among God’s people, that it is pure stub- 
bornness upon my part if I do not throw it away, 
provided I admit, myself, that it is of no essen- 
tial importance, and when I know by throwing it 
away I am helping in the great cause of Chris- 
tian Union, for which Jesus prayed in my text. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


277 


Now, let us notice this point of difference. 
It is falling from grace we differ about. We do 
not differ about the ultimate salvation of the re- 
deemed of God who “hold out faithful to the end.” 

We all believe that those who are kept by 
the power of God, through faith unto salvation 
ready to be revealed in the last time, will ul- 
timately -get home to heaven. But there are 
those, I admit, who honestly believe that a 
Christian may fall from grace and be forever lost. 

This I admit to be an honest difference, and 
I also admit that the man who believes it is as 
honest in his opinion as I am in mine. 

But here, too, when he has made his strongest 
argument and preached his greatest sermon — 
when he has exhausted his ability to prove, 
he will turn around and tell you himself that 
Falling From Grace is a non-essential. That Fall- 
ing from Grace never saved anybody, and that no 
man has to fall from grace to be saved. One may 
believe it or not and get to heaven just the same. 

Then, if falling from grace is not necessary 
to salvation and the man who holds it admits, 
himself, that it is a non-essential, and it is in 
the way of Christian Union and helps to keep 
4 up division and strife, let us throw it away and 
all will be left united upon the ultimate salvation 
of those who are kept by the power of God 
through faith unto salvation. 


278 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


5. We differ about the Establishment and 
Government of the Church. 

We do not differ about the church being a 
Divine Institution. We all believe that the 
origin and government of the Church of Christ 
is of Divine Appointment and that the Bible 
should be the only and all-sufficient rule of our 
faith and practice. We differ about the Churches, 
Creeds, Disciplines, and Confessions of Faith 
that are of human origin and by human appoint- 
ment. And I admit that there are those who 
honestly believe that these are not condemned 
by the word of God. They find in them a con- 
genial home and claim that through them much 
good is accomplished. 

Those who thus believe tell us that all Evan- 
gelical Churches are good, and that there are 
good and bad in all churches. That it makes 
no difference what a man believes, or what 
church he belongs to, so his heart is right. Each 
one will tell you that his church is not essential 
to the salvation of the soul, to the administra- 
tion or preservation of the ordinances or to the 
preaching or preservation of the Gospel. That 
souls are saved, that the ordinances are adminis- 
tered, and the Gospel is preached outside the 
pale and beyond the influence of the church to 
which he. belongs. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


279 


Now I maintain that it would require no 
sacrifice upon the part of these to throw away 
these non-essential institutions, Human Creeds, 
Disciples and Confessions of Faith, and join 
with the Baptists, who believe that their 
churches are of Divine Appointment, Originated 
with Christ and the Apostles and are essential 
to the preaching of a whole Gospel and to the 
proper administration of the ordinances, while 
they claim to have no Human Creed, but to 
hold to the Bible alone, about which we are all 
agreed, as their only rule of faith and practice. 

Baptists will then throw away their close 
communion, and at least so far as Evangelical 
Christianity is concerned, there will be “One 
fold and one Shepherd.” 

This would be a great move in the direction 
of Christian Union. It can be brought about 
without the sacrifice of a single principle upon 
the part of any one, or the giving up of a single 
essential article of belief. If we don’t do it, it 
will be because we think more of the non-essen- 
tials in our chosen creeds than we think of Chris- 
tian Union or the answer to our Savior’s prayer: 

“Father, make them one.” 

Note. If the creeds get their matter and forms from the New 
Testament, then those church organizations that have man-made 
creeds ought to use the New Testament instead. 

If they contain matter and forms not found in the Scriptures, 
then they are wrong and it is a sin to use them. 


280 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


A Song of Sunshine. 

Sing a song of sunshine, sing it from the heart, 

Life is filled with sweetness when Love forms a part; 
Sighs and tears forever such a song will drown , 
Brighten up the pathway, drive away the frown. 

All the world will greet you as you pass along, 

If there’s smiles and sunshine ever in your song. 

Sing a song of sunshine! Every rippling rill 
Will repeat the message from each verdant hill. 

In the fertile valleys, where the blossoms blow, 

And the gentle breezes softly come and go, 

Love repeats the message, sings it, rings it clear — 

Just a song of sunshine, filling hearts with cheer. 

Sing a song of sunshine everywhere you go, 

Through the heat of summer, through the chilling snow 
Sing it when the sunbeams dance about your head, 
Sing it when the shadows ’round you are o’erspread ; 
Sing it at the noontime; sing it in the night, 

Flooding all the darkness wdth a glory bright. 

Sing a song of sunshine, though the stormy skies 
Hide the blue of Heaven where its glory lies; 

Sing it with a meaning through life’s darkest days, 
Sing it with a gladness on the rough highways; 

Sing it to the saddened heart that’s sore oppressed, 
Sing it to the weary one who’s seeking rest. 

Just a song of sunshine! Let it flood the heart, 

And of life’s completeness let it form a part. 

Sing it, though it cost you hours of grief and pain, 

You will reap a harvest deep of golden grain. 

Oh, the joy and comfort you through life may know, 
With a song of sunshine everywhere you go. 

— E. A. Brininstool. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

Mr. Kent, the pastor of the Methodist church 
was at the Gholston residence early Monday 
morning. The baby clothes, and other things 
.common to a nursery were scattered about the 
room in a regular Monday morning tangle, but 
being a preacher and having no fire in the parlor, 
Mr. Kent was invited right into the family room. 

He knew how to be affable and pleasant, 
and he lost no time in talking up to the subject 
that caused his early visit. 

<( By the w T ay,” he said, “I want to congratu- 
late you on being immersed, yesterday.” 

Mrs. Carter was polite and even-tempered 
ordinarily, but this early call annoyed, and his 
remark exasperated her beyond control, for 


282 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


she did not believe him to be sincere in what, 
he said about being pleased at their being im- 
mersed. 

“Why did you not say ‘baptized’ instead 
of ‘immersed’?” asked Mrs. Carter, greatly to 
the embarrassment of the preacher. He was not 
ready for the question. 

“You know, Mrs. Carter, that we Methodists 
are not narrow and bigoted, but, on the contrary, 
are broad, courteous and liberal. We believe 
that sprinkling or pouring or immersion, either 
is baptism according to the choice of the person 
to be baptized.” 

“I never did believe that the choice of an 
ignorant man or woman, or a wise one as for 
that, could change the form, or act of baptism, 
seeing Jesus told us what the act was in a plain 
command.” 

“We have charity for the views of everybody,” 
said the preacher. 

“I know that, and do not like it. Methodism 
is just what the sentiment of any given period 
makes it. It grows along with the changing 
sentiment of the times. When the General 
Conference meets, they change it to suit the 
‘views of everybody.’” 

“‘Charity rejoiceth in the truth,’” I. Corin- 
thians 13:6, “and not in changing the truth 
to suit peoples’ views.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


283 


“I notice, with all your liberality, (?) Mr. 
Kent, you never call immersion baptism. You 
congratulate us on being ‘immersed/ Why 
did you not say ‘baptized’?” 

“I do not think, Mrs. Carter, that we have 
any reason for using the word that way, except 
that all scholars and authorities give the prefer- 
ence to sprinkling as the more accurate mode of 
baptism.” 

“That is another thing I have noticed for 
years. You all say that ‘scholars and authori- 
ties ’ give sprinkle and pour as the more accurate 
definitions of the word baptize, and just the 
opposite of this statement is the truth. I 
really want to think that you preachers have 
said it so often that you have grown to believe 
it is true, but I do know and you can know that 
it is not.” 

“Beg pardon, Mrs. Carter, but where on earth 
did you get such a notion,” asked the preacher. 

“Please hand me Worcester’s Academic 
Dictionary, from that table, Mr. Carter, and 
I will show Mr. Kent where I got an important 
start on this little piece of information. I don’t 
want to wake the baby by getting up.” 

“I see you mean to carry me back into school 
books,” said the preacher. 

“Yes,” said she, “for any one can easily dis- 
cover that you did not stay there long enough.” 


284 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“No one ever stayed there long enough to 
learn that ‘immersion ’ is a definition of ‘ baptize ” 
retorted the preacher sharply. 

“Have you ever examined the word closely 
in the dictionaries?” she asked. 

“Oh, no. I don’t think I ever took the 
trouble to look up the meaning of that particular 
word,” said Mr. Kent, “but it is universally 
understood to mean sprinkle.” 

“Yes, but what you call a ‘universal under- 
standing’ came about from just such incorrect 
statements as you have been making this morn- 
ing, and not from the meaning of the word as 
found in the dictionaries or the practice of the 
church as recorded in the histories, or the laws 
of Christ in the New Testament.” 

Captain Carter, desiring to cool down the 
discussion, asked that the definition be read, 
stating that he had never looked at the word 
in the smaller dictionaries. She read: 

“Baptize — (Greek, pabtizien, baptize, to dip,) 
(1) To immerse in water; (2) To administer 
baptism.” 

“Is that all the definition?” asked the 
preacher in much confusion. 

“It is,” she replied, “and certainly no words 
can make it plainer, — ‘dip,’ ‘immerse.’ That 
and nothing else.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


285 


“ Please go back a little and read the definition 
of ‘baptism/ — the noun instead of the verb — 
and I think that will have some sprinkling in it.” 

“Mr. Kent, if you expect to preach to these 
folks, you ought to know for yourself, what the 
word has in it. You should not depend on what 
you say is ‘universally understood. Baptism 
— (Greek, baptismos ) — A rite of the Christian 
church.” 

“Well, read on,” said Mr. Kent. 

“There is no more to read,” she replied, 
“and it is plain to my mind, that when a person 
is to receive the rite of the Christian church 
called baptism, that person must be dipped or 
immersed in water. The Apostles did it that 
way.” 

The preacher was surprised and confused, 
for he had met one who had studied the subject 
in history, in the New Testament and in the 
Greek and English languages, while he, like 
thousands do, had accepted for truth, some- 
thing that was “universally understood.” 

“I beg pardon, Captain Carter, for getting 
into a debate with your wife so unexpectedly, 
I came on a much higher mission than that.” 

NOTE — The writer knows a man who graduated young from a 
great institution of learning, and has been a pastor in a “city of 
schools" for more than a dozen years, who boasts that he never 
studied the subject of baptism ten minutes in his life. He is a 
Presbyterian and one of my best friends. 


286 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Oh! go ahead. There is no higher mission 
than to hunt for truth. I have been much 
interested. I never knew ’till now that Worcester 
— the highest authority — gave such a definition 
of the verb baptize — ‘To immerse in water.’ 
I am literally surprised! I knew the New Tes- 
tament was full of ‘much water’ and ‘into the 
water’ and ‘out of the water’ and ‘baptized 
in the river,’ but I thought the Methodist got 
over these scriptures by the way the dictionaries 
explained the word. I am surprised at this 
definition — ‘ To immerse in water.’” 

“But Bro. Carter, as I said before, I have a 
higher mission than to dispute on baptism.” 

“I insist,” said Captain Carter, that it is not 
fair to call every little conversation, in which 
people seek for truth along different lines, a 
‘dispute.’ You preachers are always trying 
to discourage honest investigation and prevent 
comparison of doctrine by belittling it into the 
idea of a ‘dispute.’ People ought to compare 
their views. We learn much in this way.” 

“Well, in any event, I am here to ask you and 
Mrs. Carter to let your membership remain in our 
church, and work on just as you have been. You 
are satisfied now about your baptism and we all 
rejoice with you. The Baptists only have service 
once a month, you know, and it will throw you out 
three Sundays every month if you join them.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


287 


“That will not throw me out, according to 
your own argument. You say one church is 
just as good as another. If that be true (I do 
not believe it) I have made no blunder in going 
to the Baptist. Further, if your argument is 
true, I can do just as much in your church work 
the three Sundays I am thrown out as if I were 
to remain a member with you. The whole thing 
is like this, Bro. Kent: You do not really be- 
lieve that one church is as good as another and 
you and your preachers only talk that way 
on convenient occasions and never act that way 
at all. 

“Consistency forbids you to let us remain 
in your church, even if we were sufficiently 
unprincipled as to desire to do so. 

1. “We do not believe in the Episcopal form 
of government — or the one-man power. Your 
church believes this. 

2. “We do not believe in orders in the minis- 
try, by which one preacher has absolute au- 
thority over another. Your church does. 

3. “We do not believe in sprinkling a baby 
and then teach it that it has been baptized, 
and this is the doctrine and practice of your 
church. 

4. “We do not believe the preachers have the 
right to get together and make a book of laws 
to govern the church. The Methodist Church 


288 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


is governed in every official act by a book made 
by men, and changed by the preachers at will. 

5. “We do not believe in sprinkling an indi- 
vidual and calling it baptism. You Methodist 
preachers do this, and then as a sort of apology 
for what you have done, say: ‘Oh, well, it 
makes no difference if one is not baptized at all.” 

G. “We do not believe that a person born 
into God’s family will ever become a child of 
the Devil. He may get wicked like Samson or 
like the church member mentioned in I Cor- 
inthians, 5th chapter, 1-5 verses.” 

CHAPTER V. 

1 It is reported commonly that there is 
fornication among you, and such fornica- 
tion as is not so much as named among 
the Gentiles that one should have his 
father’s wife. 

2 And ye are puffed up, and have not 
rather mourned that he that hath done 
this deed might be taken away from 
among you. 

3 For I verily, as absent in body, but 
present in spirit, have judged already as 
though I were present concerning him 
that hath done this deed. 

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
when ye are gathered together and my spirit 
with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for 
the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit 
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


289 


The devil destroyed Samson’s body but his 
spirit was “saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” 
God chastises his erring children, Hebrews 
12:5-6-7-8, even to the “destruction of the 
flesh,” after their souls are already saved. 
They are sons, and He punishes them as such. 

5 My son, despise not thon the chas- 
tening of the Lord, nor faint when thou 
art rebuked of him: 

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chas- 
teneth, and scourgeth every son whom 

he receiveth. ' 

7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth 
with you as with sons; for what son is he 
whom the father chasteneth not? 

8 But if ye be without chastisement, 
whereof all are partakers, then are ye 
bastards, and not sons. 

“In short, we believe nothing as you teach 
it, yet you want us to remain.” 

“Yes, but, Captain, how about that ‘ close 
communion?’” asked Mr. Kent. 

“Well, to tell you the truth, Bro. Kent, that 
has been a great objection. We did not like 
it, but we preferred to swallow that one dis- 
tasteful thing in the Baptist church rather than 
shut our eyes and gulp down an even half dozen 
more distasteful doctrines in the Methodist 
church. Besides, when we came to understand 
the subject it was not at all like Methodist 

( 19 ) 


290 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


preachers had represented it; and if it had been 
even worse than they represented, we made up 
our minds to accept one bad practice in the 
Baptist church rather than six false doctrines 
in the Methodist — one against six is the way it 
stands.” 

“You must remember, Captain, that there is 
no scripture for the existence of a Sunday school 
and yet you believe strongly in that work. We 
Methodists do not pretend to have scripture for 
all our laws. They are enacted when human 
wisdom sees the necessity for them. They grow 
with the church. Sunday schools came in the 
same way.” 

“If I cannot find scripture for Sunday schools, 
Fll never work in one again,” said Captain 
Carter. 

“I notice your wife has been meeting with the 
Aid Society of the Baptist church. There is 
no scripture for such a work, yet it is all right 
to do it. We believe in it.” 

“There is scripture for it,” chimed in Mrs. 
Carter, “or I never would have gone into it. 
Of late, I do not go into things blindly. I shall 
see the scripture for a thing or not do it.” 

“I should like to see the scripture for organ- 
ized womens work,” said Mr. Kent. 

“Very well I will accommodate you. 

Eighth chapter of Luke.” 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


291 


1 And it came to pass afterward, that 
he went throughout every city and village 
preaching and shewing the glad tidings 
of the kingdom of God: and the twelve 
were with him. 

2 And certain women which had been 
healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, 
called Magdalene, out of whom went seven 
devils. 

3 And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, 
Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many 
others, which ministered unto him of their 
substance. 


“How do you apply this scripture, Mrs. 
Carter?” asked Mr. Kent. 

“I do not apply it at all. I leave it as I find 
it, and apply my opinions to it. That is what 
troubles the Christian world today — making 
applications of scripture to suit one's own 
opinions. 

“Those women, whose names are given — Mary, 
Joanna, and Susanna — were the leaders, or 
officers, in the society. And in verse 3 you see 
the words ‘many others.' These were the rank 
and file' of the organization.” 

“Are our Methodist women scripturally or- 
ganized?” he asked. 

“They are, and it is about the only thing in 
the denomination that does conform to the 
New Testament. I was present in that organi- 


292 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


zation, and Aunt Fannie read this very passage 
as the divine authority for the work. I began 
to ask myself, right then, why the framers 
of the Methodist denomination had not been 
governed by the New Testament in forming 
that government.” 

“We think the form of church government 
is a matter of choice. ” said her pastor. 

“You also think everything else is a matter 
of choice, and, to such an extent, that ‘ choice y 
takes the place of God’s law. 

“The New Testament mentions many 
churches — one at Jerusalem, one at Corinth, 
one at Antioch, and many others — all having a 
form of government given by inspiration and 
our ‘choice’ can never make another form 
of government right. The men who framed the 
Methodist denomination seemed wilfully de- 
termined not to have the organization shaped 
and officered according to the form given by 
inspiration.” 

“That is a grave charge, Mrs. Carter, you bring 
against those holy men who founded our church. 
I will be much obliged if you will give an in- 
stance illustrating your assertion,” the'preacher 
remarked. 

“Very well; you shall have one: — The Baptist 
Church (having no book of laws made by men) 
has the office of deacon in it. Not as a matter 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


293 


of 1 choice’ — they had no choice, — but because 
that office is found in the New Testament form 
of government. Yours has not.” 

“We have an office of the same sort. Our 
stewards are the same as your deacons.” 

“I know that, and have wondered why Metho- 
dists refuse to select and ordain deacons seeing 
they made an office comparable to it in their 
system. It does seem, as I said before, that they 
wilfully avoided the form of government given 
in the New Testament.” 

“ We have deacons. ” 

“I grant it. But they constitute an order 
of your preachers and were never intended to 
be comparable to the deacons mentioned in 
the New Testament and ordained to that office 
by the church of God. I got thoroughly out 
with the Methodist Church because it was 
man-made throughout.” 


294 TWO OLD LETTERS 


The Land of the Living. 

Where is the land of the living? 

Is it here where the faces shine, 

Where the crowd is pressing together, 
And the hope of the world is mine; 
Where the pulsing noise of the city 
Is heard like a mighty sea — 

Is this the land of the living, 

Where God will be good to me? 

But this is the land of the dying! 

I stand so oft at the grave; 

The angel of death is the reaper, 

And who can the smitten save? 

Swiftly the years are passing, 

The leaves and the flowers fade; 

This is the land of the dying, 

And joy is of death afraid. 

Where is the land of the living? 

Is it away in heaven? 

But I do not wait for that country 
Ere God’s goodness to me be given. 
That is the land of the living, 

But even the dying earth 
Is full of the life of his mercy, 

And glad with the sounds of mirth. 
Where is the land of the living? 

Wherever God lives with me — 

On earth with its boundless blessing, 

Or away on the sunny sea. 

’Tis the land where the angels praise him 
It is here where I pass my days ; 

I live where the Lord lives with me, 

And life is all joy and praise. 

— Marianne Farningham. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


The following Sunday (beginning Friday 
night before) the quarterly meeting came, 
and the Presiding Elder, Mr. Durham, felt 
called on to preach on the doctrines of the 
Methodist Church. 

He admitted that the Methodist Church was 
organized by a man — John Wesley. He said 
Mr. Wesley gave it a form of government 
suited to the times and the country where it 
had its beginning, and that the success of the 
church proved that the government was right, 
even if such form were not found in the New 
Testament. 

During the recess (before taking the Lord’s 
Supper) a Presbyterian gentleman who had 
charge of the school there asked the Elder: 


296 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


“Is the Catholic Church right in its organic 
make-up?” 

“Certainly not,” replied he. 

“Then your argument is a failure. You 
said that the success of Methodism proved it to 
be right. The Catholics have succeeded in- 
finitely more, and you say they are not right. 
Success is no evidence of right.” 

He (the elder) said many things had been 
added to the church by the holy and wise men 
who framed and founded it that were not 
thought of in the days of Christ and the Apostles. 
He mentioned Sunday schools as an example, 
and noted that the Baptist, and other denomina- 
tions, had accepted this institution of man. 

On this last point Mr. Kent, the preacher in 
charge, went right after Captain Carter because 
he was a great Sunday school man. He said: 

Captain, you Baptists will have to give up 
your Sunday school work, or else abandon that 
notion of doing nothing unless you find the 
authority in the scriptures. ” 

“Why so, Mr. Kent?” 

“Because there is no scripture for Sunday 
schools. Didn't you notice what our Elder 
said about it?” 

“I did; but was surprised at his ignorance; 
and more astonished that you accept such a 
reckless statement. When does our County 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


297 


Sunday school Convention meet, Bro. Kent? 
It convenes in your meeting-house.” 

“On Thursday before the fourth Sunday in 
next month ” replied Mr. Kent after a moment's 
reflection. 

“You know I am to write on this very ques- 
tion and, now that your Elder has raised it, 
I shall lay myself out to the utmost on it; and 
if I fail to find authority for such work in the 
scriptures I promise you 1 will leave the Baptists.” 
As Captain Carter finished this last sentence 
with emphasis, Mr. Kent remarked: 

“ All right, Captain, we will take you in on that 
baptism the Baptist gave you, and we want your 
wife.” Mr. Kent added with a twinkle in his eye. 

Mr. Kent looked forward to the S. S. Con- 
vention with much interest for the Elder's 
remarks had aroused much talk on the Sunday- 
school question; and he knew the brains and 
culture of Mrs. Carter would be in that forth- 
coming paper as well as the knowledge of the 
Captain. Mr. Kent wrote to the Elder and had 
him present when the convention met. And 
the evening Captain Carter read his paper the 
building could not contain the audience. 

He Read: 

“In Moses' day the head of every household 
was a religious teacher, and each day an occasion 


298 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


for divine instructions. We get this idea with 
much clearness from Deuteronomy 6 : 7. 

7 And thou shalt teach them dili- 
gently unto thy children, and shalt talk 
of them when thou sittest in thine house, 
and when thou walkest by the way, and 
when thou liest down and when thou 
risest up. 

There are many passages like this but one 
will serve to show the Old Testament position 
on this subject. 

At the beginning of our New Testament age 
the civilized world was full of synagogues. 
The Jews had been much scattered by recent 
wars; and wherever ten men of sufficient age, 
piety, learning and wealth could be gotten 
together, there they built a synagogue. 

These were nothing more than religious 
school-houses, for, if they used them to learn 
to read and write in, it was that they might read 
and write God’s law. 

There were 460 of these places of Sabbath 
instruction and worship in the city of Jerusalem 
and we note that Paul found them in all of his 
journeys. 

Three of the ten men necessary to the organi- 
zation of a synagogue, looked after the secular 
affairs of the neighborhood much as our justices 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


299 


of the peace do. The remaining seven occupied 
the ‘ chief seats in the synagogue’ as teachers 
of the young. Matthew 23:6. 

When Jesus began his ministry, Palestine and 
the surrounding countries were full of these 
religious school-houses and it was His custom 
to teach in them on the Sabbath. Luke 4: 

16 And he came to Nazareth, where 
he had been brought up; and, as his 
custom was, he went .into the synagogue 
on the sabbath day, and stood up for to 
read. 

17 And there was delivered unto him 
the book of the prophet Esaias. And 
when he had opened the book, he found 
the place where it was written, 

It was His ‘ custom’ to go to these schools 
‘on the Sabbath day’ and to teach in them. 

These schools were up to date in their methods 
of instruction. We are now (1870) having much 
discussion about and opposition to the inter- 
national S. S. lessons. They had the books 
of the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets 
divided much after the plan we are trying 
to follow in our international series. Our 
Sunday schools are not in advance of that 
Nazareth school. That one may have been 
better than most others because Jesus attended 
it every Sabbath. 


300 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


Matt. 4 : 

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee teach- 
ing in their synagogues and preaching the 
gospel of the kingdom. 

The word “teach/ in this verse, is a Greek 
word describing the kind of instructions given 
to a class — didactic instructions. 

When Jesus began to travel and preach, he 
kept up His old Sunday-school * custom ’ and 
taught in some synagogue every Sabbath. 

John 6: 

59 These things said he in the syna- 
gogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 

That day’s teaching was the most wonderful 
that occurred during His ministry. Much 
excitement foil wed, but Jesus pushed His 
teaching every Sabbath so strongly that they 
persecuted Him as a Sabbath breaker. 

John 18: 

20 Jesus answered him, I spake openly 
to the world ; I ever taught in the syna- 
gogue, and in the temple, whither the 
Jews always resort; and in secret have I 
said nothing. 

When the Apostles went out to 1 teach all 
nations’ they followed the example of Jesus 
and taught in the synagogues — took advantage 
of these Sabbath gatherings (Sunday schools) 
to teach people the Gospel. Paul sewed hard 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


301 


on the tents all week and taught in Sabbath 
school 4 every Sabbath.' 

Acts 18: 

4 And he reasoned in the synagogue 
every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews 
and the Greeks. 

Not only is Sabbath school work recognized 
and authorized in the New Testament but the 
teacher has a 

DIVINE CALL 

like that of a minister of the Gospel. ‘He that 
teacheth' is as much given to the ‘one body' 
(the church) as the minister. 

Romans 12: 

5 So we, being many, are one body in 
Christ, and every one members one of 
another. 

6 Having then gifts differing according 
to thte grace that is given to us, whether 
prophecy, let us prophesy according to the 
proportion of faith; 

7 Or ministry, let us wait on our minis- 
tering: or he that teacheth, on teaching. 

He is called to this office that he may aid in 
‘perfecting the saints' (not the church, mark 
you) in ‘knowledge.' 

11 And he gave some, apostles; and 
some, prophets; and some, evangelists; 
and some, pastors and teachers. 


302 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


12 For the perfecting of the saints, 
for the work of the ministry, for the 
edifying of the body of Christ: 

Paul seems to lay stress upon, the order in 
which the Sunday-school teacher’s calling occurs. 
In Romans 12 : 7 the office is third in point of 
order; and in I Corinthians 12 : 28 the Apostle 
specifically mentions the order : 

I Cor. 12 : 

28 And God hath set some in the church, 
first, apostles, secondarily prophets, 
thirdly teachers, 

The Sunday schools .teacher’s office is ‘set * 
* * in the church’ by the great ecclesiastical 
Architect and to remove or change it is to alter 
the form of that sacred government given to the 
‘Church of God’ for which Jesus gave His own 
blood. It is a veritable part of the ecclesiastical 
machinery. 

Ephesians 5 : 25 : 

********* * 
even as Christ also loved the church, 
and gave himself for it; 

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse 
it with the washing of water by the word, 

, 27 That he might present it to himself 

a glorious church, not having spot, or 
, wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it 

should be holy and without blemish. 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


303 


What we call the Sunday school is the church 
exercising the third office given to it by the 
Master. It is vitally related to the church. 

It will be observed that the New Testament 
contains chapter and verse for everything 
the church is to believe and practice. It is a 
sin, therefore, against God, to use, in church 
work, a book of laws and forms made by men. 
If such laws and forms, as we find in the various 
creeds, are in the scriptures we do not need 
the man-made book; if they are not in the New 
Testament, then it is a sin to have such a book. 

If the New Testament had pleased ambitious 
men, the Disciplines, Confessions of Faith, etc., 
never would have been made. It did not suit 
them, hence they made a book of laws according 
to their own notions by which their denomina- 
tions are governed. 

Jesus organized and left His church in the 
world saying: 

Matt. 16 :18. 

* * * “The gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against it.” 

He left the New Testament as its book of laws 
and discipline and Baptists are content to accept 
both — church and book — just as they came to 
us from the hand of Jesus our Lord. Amen. 


304 


TWO OLD LETTERS 


THE OTHER SIDE. 

The weaver, toiling at his loom 
By day, by night, 

Brings not the fairest colors 
Into sight: 

The threads he spins blend darkly, 
Nor token show . 

Of how the gold and crimson 
In beauty glow; 

But when the weaving’s ended, 

And work complete, 

The other side the pattern shows 
All fair and sweet. 

How like our life! We journey on 
The weary way, 

No love to bless, no sun to make 
Our darkness day; 

The world is wide, the battle fierce, 
Nor can w r e tell 

Whether the victor’s song of joy 
Our hearts will swell: 

Simply by faith in Jesus’ cross 
We, clinging, hide, 

And know that perfect rest will find 
The other side. 

— Christian Work and Evangelist. 





















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